Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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39. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if his Department has undertaken any assessment of whether rapidly growing communities within the administrative area of Fingal County Council, including Skerries, Rush, Lusk and Balbriggan, are receiving equitable access to rural development funding schemes compared with towns of similar population size in other counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21733/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My department has a number of schemes under the Rural Development Investment Programme (RDIP), including for example the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF), the LEADER Programme, the Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) and the Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS).

It should be noted that the responsibility for identifying and selecting local priorities and submitting applications in response to departmental Calls for Proposals is delegated to our project partners. This includes our local authorities, Local Development Companies and Local Action Groups who each work closely with local communities and businesses to develop proposals that can make a lasting impact on rural towns and villages.

In providing for a transparent and equitable treatment of proposals made, the assessment and approval of projects will have regard to a number of factors including geographic spread, but will also consider factors such as alignment with Our Rural Future, Town Centre First plans, other Department priorities, available funding, the range, mix, quality and impact of proposed projects, past project delivery performance of local authorities and previous funding provided.

The LEADER programme supports the development of Ireland’s rural areas and covers all parts of Ireland with the exception of the five main cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. In rural areas of Dublin, which includes the four areas referenced by the Deputy, a total budget of €4.7 million is available to the LEADER Local Action Group for the period from 2023 to 2027. This was allocated to the area using a national methodology which takes population density as well as deprivation levels into account.

The Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) was introduced to provide high quality, accessible, community spaces that are available to all groups in all communities in both rural and urban areas. Some €111 million has been allocated since 2022 for the enhancement and refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres where such a need has been identified. Almost €1.4 million has been allocated to 34 projects in the Dublin Fingal region in the same period. I have today announced a new round of funding under the CCIF, to focus on refurbishment works.

The Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) provides funding for the development and enhancement of outdoor recreational infrastructure such as walking trails, cycleways, water-based recreation sites and mountain trails. Since 2020, funding of over €420,000 has been approved for 11 projects in the Dublin Fingal region.

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) is one of my Department’s schemes to support the revitalisation of rural towns and villages across Ireland. While it primarily targets funding at areas 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.

Since the launch of TVRS in 2016 over €210 million has been allocated to over 1,900 projects across Ireland. Previous iterations of TVRS have funded projects in Fingal, including a Streetscape Enhancement Measure in Rush, the acquisition of a former parochial house, parochial hall and coach house in St Margaret's to develop into a multi-purpose community space and the refurbishment of Rush Community Centre. Scheme priorities are reviewed at the end of each scheme year to ensure that funding is targeted effectively to support vibrant and attractive communities and to respond to changing needs and opportunities. The details of the next iteration of TVRS are currently being developed and I expect to announce details of the scheme later this year.

Administered by my department, the RRDF is a major capital investment scheme which supports large-scale, ambitious projects which can achieve sustainable economic and social development in rural areas in line with the Town Centre First Policy. The focus of the RRDF is on our rural towns and villages with a population of less than 10,000 people.To date, the RRDF has allocated over €614 million for 273 projects across Ireland. Each RRDF Call for proposals has a defined set of objectives and criteria, which are reviewed in advance of each Call, and includes qualifying criteria relating to population, based on 2022 census.

It should be noted that the Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund, formerly known as the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund is administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This acts as a parallel fund to the RRDF and is established to support the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns with populations of over 9,000.

I am committed to ensuring that my Department will continue to support high quality and transformational projects across rural Ireland in line with the objectives of Our Rural Future and the Town Centre First policy.