Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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106. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an overview of funding allocation, and the fund streams available, to support the Riverbank redevelopment project in Newbridge, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43320/24]

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an overview of funding allocation, and the fund streams available, to support the library and archives redevelopment project in Newbridge, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43321/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 106 and 107 together.

A flagship element of Project Ireland 2040, the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was one of four new funds established under the National Development Plan (NDP) 2018 – 2027. Launched in 2018 with committed Exchequer funding of €2 billion the review of the NDP in 2021 extended the URDF to 2030.

The URDF was established to support more compact and sustainable development through the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland's five cities and other large towns, like Newbridge, in line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework (NPF) and the NDP.

There have been three rounds of funding provided under the URDF with more than €1.9 billion allocated so far. While Call 1 and 2 was for specific proposals, the latest round of funding (Call 3) is supporting a programme of acquisitions in each local authority to address long term vacancy and dereliction. Under Call 1 and Call 2 there were 132 proposals, comprising of almost 400 projects, approved for funding.

The applications received contained a wide variety of themes and sectoral areas, from urban regeneration and public realm works, enabling strategic infrastructure, to cultural and amenity development.

To date Kildare County Council have been provisionally allocated €21,435,583 in URDF support towards their seven successful proposals approved under Call 1 and Call 2.

Under the Council’s successful Call 1 proposal - Newbridge Cultural and Civic Quarter - the URDF provided €492,000 in Category B funding towards technical assistance/design works for a number of projects, including the Design and Part 8 process for the Kildare Central Library, progression of design plans for Public Realm works to Main Street and funding towards a feasibility study for St Conleth’s Square, which proposes a Climate Action Centre and new public space to the rear of the Town Hall. These technical assistance/design works, which are now completed, outline plans for better linkages along Main Street through an improved public realm between the River Liffey Linear Park, the County Library and the Riverbank Arts Centre.

The intention of this Category B funding was to allow Kildare County Council to provide a proof of concept on these projects, bringing them through various stages of design and planning and having them ready for submission under future URDF Calls for Proposals or other appropriate funding streams.

In relation to the proposed library project, the main source of funding for libraries is provided through the Department of Rural and Community Development’s Libraries Capital Programme. In this instance, as the sponsoring authority Kildare Council should engage with the Department of Rural and Community Development regarding the further delivery of the library project.

An interactive GIS Story Map site, containing details of all successful URDF projects under Call 1 and Call 2, was recently launched to give elected representatives and members of the public access up to date information on all URDF supported projects at a Local Authority level. The site is available through the URDF site www.gov.ie/URDF, or directly via the following link: experience.arcgis.com/experience/98a739a585944cf887f2dffe54c4f129/