Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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125. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when allocation funding under the town and village renewal scheme will be announced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55827/25]

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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127. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for an update on the town and village renewal scheme 2025. [56027/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 127 together.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme was introduced in 2016 and is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. The scheme which sees local authorities work with communities throughout the country, primarily targets funding at rural towns and villages with populations of less than 10,000 people. Applications for towns with populations of up to 15,000 people are also accepted where the project is of a high quality, displays good value for money and has the potential to significantly benefit the town or village.

To date almost €184 million has been allocated to over 1,800 projects nationally. The Budget 2026 process resulted in a further €21 million allocated to the scheme in 2026.

The 2025 TVRS ‘Call for Proposals’, which launched in March, intends to support the revitalisation of rural Ireland by focusing on stimulating town centre economic and soci`al regeneration. The Call included three funding streams under which project applications could be made, the Building or Land Acquisition Measure (BLAM), the Main Scheme and the Project Development Measure (PDM).

The BLAM closed for applications on 2 May 2025, and local authorities have been informed of successful applications. For reasons of commercial sensitivity, details of individual projects receiving support will released only after the purchase of properties or lands in question have been completed.

The 2025 Main Scheme and PDM’s closed for applications at the end of July and the competitive assessment process is currently underway.

The scheme is heavily subscribed, and funding will be allocated based on a project's suitability against scheme criteria, the geographical spread of projects, the quality of the proposed projects, and the available budget. I expect to be in a position to announce the successful projects later this year.