Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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2636. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 103 and 132 of 27 March 2025, the basis upon which the amount of funding to be provided to a county is determined; the allocation, by county, in each of the years 2015 to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20896/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In April 2024, €40 million in funding was announced for LIS across all local authorities to cover 2024/2025. While the Department provides funding for LIS, the scheme is administered by local authorities responsible for selecting and prioritising roads. Applications are received directly by local authorities, who engage with scheme beneficiaries.

A number of factors are considered when determining LIS funding allocations to local authorities, the most significant factor being the overall budget amount allocated to the Department for LIS under the annual budgetary process. As demand typically exceeds supply, and whilst a minimum and maximum funding ceiling is applied across local authorities, funding allocations at the beginning of each year are informed by the overall capital envelope available, a relative weighting based on the geographic area of each county and spending patterns in previous years. In recent years, a second allocation was also made during the year in the context of managing capital expenditure across the Department's Vote. Where such supplementary allocations were made, the determining factor was a function of how many additional roads each local authority had indicated they could deliver in the second half of the year.

In what would generally be a limited number of circumstances where it becomes apparent that a local authority may not be in a position to fully spend its allocated budget, the Department engages with other local authorities and endeavours to reallocate any surplus funds to other counties in a position to undertake works and drawdown these funds.

The attached tabular statement provides details of the funding amount allocated to each local authority for the years 2017 - 2025