Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1286. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the reason there are ongoing delays in disbursing community recognition fund allocations, to detail all delayed allocations in tabular form by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23534/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Community Recognition Fund was first introduced in 2023 to recognise the huge efforts made by communities in welcoming and supporting people coming to Ireland. A total of €100 million has now been allocated over two iterations to support these cities, towns and villages.

The 2024 iteration of the fund is being delivered over three tranches so as to allow flexibility at a local level to respond to new emerging priorities and to underpin the focus of investment on local needs.

The phased closing dates for receipt of applications from each local authority were May 31st, 2024, September 30th, 2024 and January 31st, 2025. The closing date for the final tranche was extended to February 28th to allow additional time for the development of projects across the country.

Last August, €16.4 million was approved to deliver 185 community projects across the country under the first tranche of the 2024 allocation. On 24th February, I approved over €14 million to deliver 164 projects under the second tranche. My officials are currently reviewing the proposals submitted by each local authority under the final tranche and I expect to be announcing the successful projects shortly. This is in line with the timelines initially envisaged for the fund.

Funding for each individual project is drawn down from my Department as projects are completed and details are submitted by the relevant local authority.