Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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567. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide a breakdown of the cap ex and op ex funding drawn down for LIS schemes in each of the years 2020 to date, broken down by local authority [50769/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports the upgrading of non-public rural roads and laneways, which are usually not maintained by local authorities. Reintroduced by my Department in 2017, the scheme provides capital funding as part of the Department's Rural Development Investment programme. The scheme has allocated over €201 million to local authorities for improvement works.

While the Department provides funding for the scheme, local authorities manage it and are responsible for selecting and prioritising roads. This includes processing applications, prioritising eligible roads, scheduling works, and maintaining waiting lists.

The arrangements for the Local Improvement Scheme 2026 are set out in the Scheme Outline, which is published on my Department's website. Under these arrangements, a local authority may claim up to 10% of a road project's net cost to defray a portion of the operational costs associated with the scheme. The ‘net cost’ comprises the cost of labour, materials, and equipment. This operational cost is included in funding drawdown requests from each local authority. The Department does not maintain reporting on this element of LIS funding.

The attached tabular statement provides details of LIS expenditure by each local authority from 2020 to 2025. Since 2023, the Local Improvement Scheme has included a ringfenced allocation for counties with inhabited offshore islands (Cork, Donegal, Galway, Mayo and Sligo). This allocation is included in the total expenditure figures for these counties.

Local Improvement Scheme Spend by county from 2020 to 2025

Note: Since 2023, the Local Improvement Scheme has included a ringfenced allocation for counties with inhabited offshore islands (Cork, Donegal, Galway, Mayo and Sligo). This allocation is included in the total expenditure figures for these counties.