Noel McCarthy (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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452. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when he expects the next round of urban regeneration and development fund funding for public realm works in County Cork to be announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9681/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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A flagship element of Project Ireland 2040, the €2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is supporting a programme of significant transformational capital projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan.

To date, there have been three rounds of funding provided under the URDF, with approximately €1.9 billion allocated so far. While Call 1 and 2 were for specific regeneration projects, 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 more than 400 individual projects, approved for funding. URDF supported projects are now active in every local authority area in the country.

With regard to Cork County, €17,288,035 in URDF support has been provided to Cork County Council for various projects under the first 3 rounds of funding. Over €6 million was allocated to Public Realm projects in Mallow and Midleton, with smaller amounts allocated to Public Realm projects in the other Cork County URDF towns.

In line with the agreed Programme for Government, it is my intention to continue and expand URDF-type investment in projects as part of the new Towns and Cities Infrastructure Investment Fund, which will also allow for investment in infrastructure, the acquisition of land, assembly of sites and the de-risking of sites in existing towns and cities to maximise their potential growth.

The arrangements for the implementation of these funding streams, are currently under development and will be clarified further to completion of the National Development Plan Review process, which will enable the level of additional capital funding for infrastructure investment to be determined.