Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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642. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide all streams of financial supports and funding available from her Department and the amount of funding available, in tabular form. [53562/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides funding through a range of schemes and programmes aimed at supporting our rural and community development objectives. Details of all schemes managed by my Department, and current and pending funding calls, can be found on our website at www.gov.ie/drcd/. Information on future funding calls will be made available on the website in due course, as the details become available.

Budget 2024 provides my Department with a gross allocation of €431 million. This will provide €210 million for capital investment, with the remaining €221 million for current expenditure. These allocations represent a core funding increase of €4 million for capital and €12 million for current, compared to 2023. The capital increase reflects the expenditure ceilings set out in the National Development Plan.

Over €205 million in funding is available for the Rural Development programme, including supporting schemes such as Town and Village Renewal, LEADER and the Rural Regeneration Development Fund. This includes additional funding for the Local Improvement Scheme and CLÁR, bringing their funding levels to €13 million and €8.7 million respectively.

Over €225 million has been secured for the Community Development Programmes. The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), and the Community Services Programme, will have combined core funding of over €100 million. The allocation for Community Development also provides funding of €21 million to support the Community Centre Investment Fund in 2024 – delivering upgrades to existing centres and allowing investment in new centres where they are needed, in both rural and urban areas. Budget 2024 also provides €11 million in current funding to assist with the community response to the Ukraine crisis under SICAP and through volunteering supports.

The Revised Estimates for 2024 are currently being finalised, with publication by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform expected in the coming weeks. That publication will set out the exact allocation provisions for 2024. The table below provides information on the original allocations made for each programme area in the original 2023 Revised Estimate for the Department. The equivalent information will be set out in the Revised Estimate 2024 once published.