Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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110. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he will provide an additional allocation to Monaghan County Council for the local improvement scheme in 2025. [25831/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports improving non-public rural roads and laneways 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. This figure includes its 2024/2025 allocation of €938,444 to Monaghan County Council.

The Programme for Government commits to the support of rural communities including a commitment to increase funding under the LIS and I am working to ensure that the Scheme continues to be well funded in the coming years. My Department is engaging with the ongoing review of the National Development Plan with a view to increasing the capital allocations for schemes such as LIS.

As has been the case in recent years, I will also continue to monitor capital expenditure across my Department as the year progresses, with the potential to utilise any savings that may arise elsewhere for schemes such as the LIS.