Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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429. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to take into consideration the huge priority list for local improvement schemes (LIS) in County Kerry, where there are in excess of 600 applications on the waiting list and based on annual allocations in recent years, and it will take up to 40 years to complete the works; if he will substantially increase the LIS allocation to County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14804/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports improving non-public rural roads and laneways that are not usually maintained by local authorities. Since its establishment in 2017, the government has provided almost €170 million to local authorities for LIS.

In April 2024, €40 million in funding was announced for LIS across all local authorities to cover 2024/2025. My officials have recently opened the 2025 Local Improvement Scheme and invited local authorities to submit their lists of priority roads for completion in 2025.

Since 2017, Kerry has been allocated a total of €10.37 million in LIS funding. This figure includes the 2024/2025 allocation of €2.57 million. In relation to LIS, individual local authorities are responsible for the management of waiting lists and for the selection of priority road projects to be completed within each county, each calendar year. In prioritising projects, local authorities have regard to factors such as the level of available funding and condition of roads.

In terms of funding allocations to LIS, a review of the scheme is carried out by Department officials ahead of any new funding announcements in order to ensure funding is allocated across our local authorities as fairly and efficiently as possible.

Finally, as has been the case in recent years, I will continue to monitor capital expenditure across my Department as the year progresses with a view to utilising any savings which may arise for schemes such as the LIS.

Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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430. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to promote the expansion of the rural regeneration and development fund, the town and village, rural recreation schemes, and so on, across County Kerry to help address vibrancy of town and village centres, vacancy and dereliction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14857/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Administered by my Department, the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) is a major programme which seeks to support large-scale, ambitious projects which can achieve sustainable economic and social development in rural areas. The focus of the RRDF is on rural towns and villages with a population of less than 10,000 people. To date, the RRDF has allocated €588 million for 243 projects across Ireland.

A Call for Proposals was launched in October 2024, with a focus on revitalising our rural towns and villages through planned and sustainable regeneration. This is to drive greater economic activity and support the creation of employment, help revitalise our towns and villages, drive footfall and address vacancy and dereliction. The closing date for applications was 14 March 2025. I would anticipate that a further Call for Proposals will issue under RRDF in Quarter 4 of this year and am committed to ensuring that the scheme will continue to support high quality and transformational projects across rural Ireland in line with the objectives of Our Rural Future.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme, which was introduced in 2016, has to date allocated over €177 million to almost 1,800 projects nationally. The scheme, which sees our local authorities work with community actors, primarily targets funding at rural towns and villages with populations of less than 10,000.

I was delighted to open the 2025 scheme for applications last week. The 2025 scheme is intended to support the revitalisation of rural Ireland by focusing on stimulating town centre economic and social regeneration. This will be achieved through projects which support sustainable employment creation, town centre resilience and regeneration, enhancement of our streetscapes, and the bringing of vacant and derelict buildings or lands back into use as community multi-purpose spaces.

Under the 2025 scheme, there are three main funding streams available for project applications.

Under the 'Main Scheme' local authorities can submit applications for one project up to a value of €500,000 and up to thee further projects with maximum values of €300,00. In addition, counties with offshore islands and/or Gaeltacht areas are permitted to submitted one additional application up to a maximum value of €300,000.

The second stream is the Project Development Measure, and this provides up to €50,000 to undertake the required planning and development work to underpin the development of successful projects.

Finally, the Building and Land Acquisition Measure is available again this year following on from the success of the support provided in this area in recent years. This funding stream makes up to €500,000 available to each eligible local authority to purchase vacant or derelict buildings and sites for later development as community facilities.

The closing date for the submission of applications under the Building and Land Acquisition Measure is May 2nd, 2025 and for the Main Scheme and Project Development Measure is July 25th, 2025.

Full details of the 2025 scheme are available on my Department's website. I look forward to receiving high quality applications from across the country, and to announcing the successful applications later this year.

The Department’s funding streams are key to supporting the Town Centre First (TCF) Policy. This is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. It does this by setting out a framework to facilitate and resource the regeneration of Irish towns to ensure they are vibrant, viable places to live, work, invest in, and visit.

As well as providing a full time Town Regeneration Officer with Kerry County Council, in December 2021, funding of €2.6 million was announced to support the development of TCF Town Plans nationally in 26 pilot towns, including Milltown in Kerry. These community-based plans are produced by individual Town Teams, drawn from local community and business representatives, and are helping communities develop a vision for their town and identify viable projects to realise that vision. This first phase of TCF plans are complete, have moved onto the project delivery phase, which can be seen in towns such as in Milltown, which was awarded funding in 2024 to develop a project under the Project Development Measure.

In February 2024, a new dedicated TCF suite of supports was launched with €4.5 million allocated through three funding streams. This includes an allocation of €30,000 each for the development of a further 26 TCF plans for a new suite of towns, which includes Kenmare in County Kerry.

The funding also includes an allocation towards the establishment of a further 68 Town Teams nationwide, which includes Castleisland, Ballybunion and Dingle.

It also includes funding to assist towns in preparing for major projects via the ‘Project Development Measure’, and two projects in Milltown and Valentia Island were awarded funding under this measure. Further details of all the towns and projects awarded funding under Town Centre First, including these measures can be found on Gov.ie at this link: www.gov.ie/en/publication/473d3-town-centre-first-policy/.

As can be seen from the 33 actions contained within the TCF policy, rather than being a funded programme in and of itself, the significance of TCF is that it provides an integrated policy approach for the development of Irish towns.

It is important to stress that, subject to the standard eligibility criteria, DRCD and wider Government capital schemes can be accessed to support towns and villages nationally irrespective of whether those towns and villages have Town Centre First Plans or Town Teams in place.

The Town Centre First policy was developed in conjunction with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Falling within the parameters of this policy, I would refer to the publication ‘Bringing Back Homes’ which details over 20 incentives, funded measures and grants to support a reversal of housing vacancy and dereliction. Some of the main supports available include the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant under the Croí Conaithe initiative, the Repair and Leasing Scheme, the Buy and Renew Scheme, and the Living City Initiative.

The new Programme for Government commits to resourcing the Town Centre First model and to establish a Town Regeneration Team in every local authority. My Department will continue to work closely with colleagues in the National TCF Office, local authorities and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to deliver on the goal of revitalising rural towns and villages.

Lastly, while my Department's outdoor recreation scheme is not designed to address issues of vacancy or dereliction, it does support outdoor recreation opportunities and increased footfall that also enhances the vibrancy of towns and villages nearby. The 2024/2025 scheme closes for applications tomorrow and I expect to announce the successful projects later in the year, including in respect of applications in county Kerry.