Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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2700.To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development further to Parliamentary Question No. 38 of 9 May 2024, if she will detail any application made by Louth County Council for remedial works on previously repaired local improvement scheme roads, damaged by flooding, under the new flexibility introduced to the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33300/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As part of Our Rural Future, the government is committed to ensuring that the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is funded in the future. This reflects the vital contribution that the scheme makes to connectivity in rural Ireland.

The scheme was reintroduced by my department in 2017, following several years of no dedicated funding. Between 2017 and 2024, my department allocated almost €170 million to local authorities under the scheme. Up to the end of 2023, this has upgraded over 4,000 non-public roads and lanes, benefiting nearly 20,000 landowners and residents in these rural areas.

Louth County Council has been allocated €938,444 towards the 2024 and 2025 LIS, bringing the total amount allocated to Louth under LIS since 2017 to over €3.2 million.

The 2024 Scheme outline was amended this year. My Department can make an exception to fund previously repaired roads under LIS that have since been damaged by severe flooding that occurred in October 2023. If applying for remedial works on these roads, evidence of when previous LIS repairs were carried out and documentary evidence of damage sustained due to flooding in 2023 should be supplied.

Louth County Council has not included any such roads on their 2024 priority lists submitted to the Department. Applications for the 2025 Scheme will open from January 2025.

Finally, it should be noted that although my Department provides funding, local authorities administer the scheme and are solely responsible for selecting and prioritising eligible road projects.