Vol. 1028 No. 5
73. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will develop a set of initiatives to support the strengthening of new communities in rapid growth areas on the fringe of Ireland's cities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53400/22]
I ask the Minister to think about communities that fall between two stools, namely those in rapidly-growing fringes of our cities. They may nominally have access to developed urban facilities but the reality is very different. For years they are often without any sports facilities, are relying just on takeaways and schools are built very slowly. These communities need a leg up. Will the Minister take a leadership role in that area?
I thank the Deputy. This year my Department had a budget of €378 million, which is utilised to provide supports to both urban and rural communities. The national development plan also places a particular focus on solutions to strengthen housing, climate ambitions, transport, healthcare and jobs growth for communities in every region. My Department supports the development of community infrastructure across the country through programmes such as the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, the LEADER programme, the town and village renewal scheme and the community enhancement programme. This year I have further supplemented this investment by establishing a community centre investment fund that will support groups in every county to carry out refurbishments and improvements of their local community facility. These facilities represent vital infrastructure to support our communities, including in expanding areas such as those referred to by the Deputy.
My Department also operates a range of other community supports such as the community services programme, which assists community-based organisations through a social enterprise model. It typically supports organisations to meet local service gaps and provide access to services and facilities that would otherwise generally be unavailable. In addition, the social inclusion and communities activation programme, SICAP, provides funding to tackle poverty and social exclusion at a local level. The value of the programme has again been seen in recent times in responding to the needs of the people from Ukraine to help them settle and engage with local communities. I am confident the current suite of supports provided by my Department will continue to support and enable our growing communities to thrive throughout the country.
I thank the Minister for her reply. I ask that she ask her officials to provide her with data on the proportion of those moneys that goes to the high-growth communities on the edges or our cities in Waterford, Galway and Dublin, including in my and the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's constituency. These communities do not have the sports clubs that can draw down sports grants. They do not have the community facilities that can be refurbished. They do not have schools because the Department of Education has a policy of waiting to build a school until the children have been in the area for ten years. This needs leadership within Government to join up thinking so there are special quotas from sports capital grants and social capital grants to protect and grow those communities. We are saying half the population growth over the next ten years, which is a minimum of 500,000 people, are going to go into those areas. There is not sufficient thinking about them and the NDP has not seriously addressed them.
The Deputy will appreciate my focus is first and foremost on supporting rural communities. That is my priority as Minister for Rural and Community Development. Many of my Department's funding programmes, such as CLÁR and the rural regeneration fund, are specifically targeted at rural towns, villages and parishes. For the larger urban population areas the Government has the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, under the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government. Some very significant projects across the country have been funded under the URDF. In my Department I have introduced the new community centre investment fund, which is available to all communities, be they urban or rural. Where there is population growth we want to ensure families have access to quality community facilities. I have already announced the small-scale grants of up to €25,000 under that fund and hope to announce the larger grants of up to €300,000 in the coming weeks. That funding is to support the upgrade and enhancement of existing community centres.
While the Minister is right that her title refers to rural development, it also refers to community development. Who is looking out for these urban communities if not her Department? It is a gap in Government thinking. If those urban communities do not grow well the hope of compact development with low emissions, and all those things we believe are the future, will struggle. We need to frontload investment into those areas and not do as most Departments do and wait far too long to make that investment. I plead with the Minister to try to take a leadership role in this and maybe elbow some of her compatriots around the Cabinet table to shift their position on this.
The Minister is far too ladylike to elbow people.
I am being given the job of doing the elbowing. I take Deputy Bruton's point. I appreciate there are bigger communities, more people moving in and facilities are needed. I secured €20 million for a fund targeted at new-build community centres. That fund can be drawn down in both rural and urban areas. It will be targeted specifically at areas where there has been population growth and there is currently a lack of a community centre. The URDF is the scheme that should look at the areas the Deputy is addressing because as I said there is a specific focus on the rural in my Department. He will appreciate there has been unprecedented investment in rural Ireland, which is paying off, making changes and making a difference to people's lives. It is something we need to look at as a Government and I am happy to follow up on it with my colleagues though my focus remains, as I said, on the rural side of things.
74. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when successful applications under the rural regeneration and development fund will be announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53594/22]
My question relates to the roll-out of the RRDF. When people made submissions, they were based on submissions they got in at the time. Is the Minister's Department going to take into account the increase that has occurred in the cost of building since the applications were made and by the time the roll-out will occur?
I will give the Deputy an overview of the RRDF first. The fund has to date allocated funding of €280 million for 191 projects nationwide costing over €380 million. Calls for applications to the fund are sought under two categories, namely, category 1 and category 2. Category 1 relates to large-scale ambitious capital projects with all necessary planning and other consents in place, and which are ready to proceed. Category 2 provides smaller grant funding to enable the development of project proposals suitable for future calls for category 1 applications.
My Department has received 42 applications under the fourth call for category 1 applications under the fund. They are seeking funding of over €149 million. The focus of this fourth call is very much on revitalising our towns and villages, and funding infrastructure that can drive economic growth and support communities in rural areas. In order to maximise the quality of the projects being submitted to the fund, the application process is competitive. Applications are assessed against the appraisal scheme published as part of the call for applications.
This process is undertaken by my Department, with the guidance of a project advisory board comprised of representatives from key Departments and independent experts. My Department then prepares a report on the assessment process, setting out projects recommended for funding. Following consideration of that report, I make the final decisions on the projects that will be funded. I expect to conclude this process shortly and make an announcement of successful projects in the coming weeks. There are some really transformational projects in line for funding that will have a big impact on towns and villages right across the country.
The Deputy asked about funding shortfalls. Projects that emerge as successful from calls for applications to the fund are initially approved in principle before progressing through a further comprehensive approval process. This review always includes an assessment by an independent quantity surveyor. I can give more details of that presently if the Deputy so wishes.
The Minister said she will make an announcement on the successful applications within the next few weeks. It is important that the funding be rolled out at the earliest possible date because costs continue to rise. A large number of applicants are waiting for decisions as to whether they have been successful. In fairness to every group that makes a submission to the scheme, its agenda is to provide facilities for communities and, in many cases, deliver a whole regeneration that will assist those communities. Do we need to revisit this scheme to ensure unsuccessful projects can in some way be accommodated in the not-too-distant future?
The whole purpose of category 2 funding is to help people to prepare projects for category 1 funding, which is for big multimillion euro projects. The cost of construction has gone up. We employ a quantity surveyor as part of the assessment, which is important to ensure the costs and contingencies have been included by the lead party for the project. In line with best practice in project management, all applicants to the fund are asked to put in a contingency budget at a level appropriate for the type of project being undertaken. A carefully calculated contingency budget will meet many of the challenges people face in terms of cost overruns.
Notwithstanding this, it is open to project lead parties to make a case to the Department for additional funding if the cost of an approved project significantly increases after the procurement process is completed. Many leaders have said to me that after they went to procurement, the project ended up costing a lot more than they thought it would. If that is the case, they can make a detailed justification as to why they need more money. We certainly are not in the business of holding people back from developing good projects for their communities.
The Minister mentioned the roll-out of the LEADER programme, which she announced this morning. It is very welcome that she has increased the funding for County Cork. She also announced funding for community centres, which will be extremely beneficial to communities. I hope the new programme can be rolled out at the earliest possible date in order that groups can get on with the projects and deliver them in a timely manner.
The Deputy will be glad to hear the LEADER programme allocation for Cork is almost €21 million, up from €13.9 million under the previous programme. This is a 50% increase and the highest allocation in the country for the biggest county in the country. We assess applications on population and deprivation. Some counties get more funding than others based on that. There may be a smaller population but greater deprivation.
My focus now is on delivery. As I said, the selection process is open and all the details are available on the Department's website. Interested parties have until 16 December to put in their expressions of interest. I would tell them to get to it. As far as I am concerned, the ball has been thrown in, the funding is there and it is up to groups to get their bids in and deliver their projects. It is a great programme. I advise applicants to work collaboratively because when we work together, we get better results. That is all I have to say.
75. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the future allocations under the community centres investment fund; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53898/22]
82. Deputy Kieran O'Donnell asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on allocations under the community centres investment fund and further calls for the scheme. [53864/22]
114. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when further community centre grants will be announced and open for applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53869/22]
129. Deputy Ciarán Cannon asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will outline any findings arising from the recently announced community centres investment fund; and if she intends to continue the scheme in 2023. [53867/22]
There are four questions in this group and limited time to deal with them. I propose that each Deputy have a minute each to put a question to the Minister, to which she will respond. I ask Deputies to take no more than 30 seconds each for their supplementary questions in order to leave the Minister time to come in again. Is that agreed?
Will the Acting Chairman clarify the procedure?
Deputy Dillon will have 30 seconds to introduce the group of questions, to which the Minister will respond. I will then go back to Deputy Dillon, who will have one minute to speak, the Minister will have one minute to respond and then the same will be done for the three other Deputies. After that, each Deputy will have 30 seconds each for supplementary questions, which will leave the Minister time to respond collectively to those questions. We will try that and see how it goes.
Community centres and parish halls are the core and heartbeat of many rural communities, towns and villages. The community centres investment fund has been a game changer for many community groups and organisations. Will the Minister give an update on future allocations under the fund?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 75, 82, 114 and 129 together.
I am committed to supporting communities across Ireland through my Department's two strategies, namely, Our Rural Future and Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities. As part of that commitment and in line with the programme for Government, I launched the €15 million community centres investment fund in April this year. The fund was available to community groups under three categories. Category 1 was for grants up to €25,000, category 2 for grants between €25,001 and €100,000 and category 3 for grants between €100,001 and €300,000. The fund closed to applications in July.
Interest was extremely high, with more than 1,000 applications received under the three categories. All applications were subject to a competitive appraisal process that has been ongoing since the closing date. Earlier this month, I announced more than €12.5 million in funding for 580 successful category 1 applicants, details of which are available on my Department's website. Due to the high level of applications to the fund, the appraisal process is still ongoing for categories 2 and 3. I expect to make announcements on the outcome of the process in the coming weeks.
The funding under the community centres investment fund was open to groups from both urban and rural areas, particularly disadvantaged areas. When I announced the funding last July, we tried to encompass as many projects as possible. We looked at works to improve communal facilities, such as kitchen and toilet facilities, energy retrofitting, including new windows, doors and heating systems, upgrades to lighting systems and stage areas, works to address safety concerns, including those identified as a result of fire safety audits, works to improve disability access, improvements to provide additional or better services to communities, such as meals for the elderly and youth facilities, works to develop community centres as social hubs through the development of community cinemas, youth hubs and community libraries, and essential maintenance work, such as repairs to roofs and so on. Many community centres were unable to do their usual fundraising during the Covid crisis. A large number had a leaking roof, for example, or needed to upgrade their kitchen. This was a particularly welcome fund and there was a large number of applications.
I was delighted to include upgrades to GAA clubhouses in the fund. Many clubhouses, particularly in rural areas, also function as community centres. They could not get money from the sports capital fund to upgrade the clubhouses because that funding is only for sports facilities. I was delighted to include them in this round of funding, which meant we were able to support a good number of GAA centres around the country.
As Members know they are at the heart of rural Ireland. As I said, I was delighted to secure the €20 million for the further iteration of the fund in 2023. It will once again look at more upgrades and refurbishment of existing centres. We tried to fund as many as we could. In the case of those that did not get funding this time, either the application was not eligible or did not meet the criteria or it scored very badly. A great many of the applications were funded. About 90% of them were funded. We tried to spread the loaves and fishes as far as possible and it was very well received.
I thank the Minister for her response. In Mayo it was well received by 30 community groups and organisations that received funding in the region of €640,000. Some of the awardees locally were Partry, Ballyhean, Turlough, Cong, Islandeady and Balla and the feedback has been tremendous. I also want to compliment the Minister on her earlier points in regard to sporting bodies such as Charlestown Bellaghy recreational development centre and Mayo Gaels GAA club. They received essential funding for the upgrade of lighting systems. Also, funding was directly targeted at essential repairs to leaking roofs and so forth, which possibly they would only get during the sports capital programme. It was certainly very welcome.
As for the unsuccessful applicants under category 1, will they have an opportunity to appeal a decision or will they have to reapply in 2023?
Deputy Dillon has been a strong advocate for projects in County Mayo. Mayo did very well actually. I have a long list to hand of projects funded. It is important that we help these community centres. The Deputy asked me whether there is an appeals system and there is. We asked Pobal to assess these applications for us and it did so. There will be an appeal system whereby an organisation that has not been successful can see exactly where it fell down. The good news is that I am trying to put a fund together for next year. If at first you do not succeed, I always recommend that you try again. Maybe with some changes the application can be successful the next time. Good projects always get money.
This is great scheme. In Limerick at the start of October, we got €680,000 for 33 projects under category 1. There were some great projects. As for categories 2 and 3, many worthwhile projects are seeking funding, such as St. Munchin's Community Centre, Kileely, in the city, Murroe Wood Park, which has done fantastic community work, Our Lady of Lourdes Community Centre, Childers Road, Limerick city, and Hope for People with Autism, under Dóchas. When does the Minister anticipate that the announcement will be made? I know the difference this scheme makes to groups. I have seen groups such as Caherdavin Community Centre, the Cari Foundation, Mulcair Men’s Shed, Abington, and Southill Hub with the tranche going to category 1 and what a difference it has made to community groups. In regard to the timing for categories 2 and 3, when will the Minister be making that announcement? This is a brilliant scheme.
I thank Deputy O'Donnell. There is a good long list in Limerick as well. I want to thank all the Deputies. I believe everybody supported me on this scheme because it makes a huge difference to communities. That is what we are about. We are about helping people and communities to realise their ambition for their areas. There is nothing more annoying than struggling at community level and just needing a few pounds. It does not take an awful lot and it makes a difference. We get good value because they match it. Many of the centres had not been upgraded for decades.
In respect of categories 2 and 3 they are at a final stage of assessment. It is not finished yet but I hope to announce categories 2 and 3 in the coming weeks. The money is tight because we originally had €15 million in the fund. As we received more than €70 million worth of applications, there was a touch of the loaves and fishes about it. We will keep at it.
I thank the Minister. She outstrips anything in the New Testament in terms of what she has done there with the funding.
She is walking on water, is she?
No, you would drown.
It has been very welcome. My parish community centre benefited from €25,000 under category 1. This was one of 27 projects funded in County Kerry. This was most welcome. In a small rural parish, collecting €25,000 is virtually impossible in the current times so that funding from the Government is crucial. I remember in the 1980s going around in the back of my father's Fiat 127. Along with the other members of the community council, he was collecting £5 a month from householders to build the centre. It now needs reinvestment. This funding is a huge boost to a small rural community. It is the same throughout the country. I congratulate the Minister and thank her for putting the fund in place for next year also. I encourage the further categories to be announced as soon as possible. The good people of Listowel have been on to me about Listowel Community Centre. They do fantastic work there. The term, "community centre", explains what is going on there. These places are at the centre of their communities. The work that goes on in them is enormously important. This funding is crucially important as well.
It is important that we look at new schemes that help communities all the time. I value the input that I get in this Chamber and from each Member individually. At different points, Members say to me that I should look at this or that and I continually review the schemes. In fairness, there was a great number of successful applications in County Kerry, averaging around €18,000, €19,000 or up to €25,000, which was the maximum. Many of them did very well. I will share a story with Members. I remember when I was first elected to the Dáil and a small grant for about €10,000 came out. I had been working on it for a while and phoned this community group to advise it had received €10,000. That is not a lot of money in the overall scheme of things. The boy said to me, "You know, I would be a long time standing at the traffic lights in Monaghan with a bucket by the time I would get €10,000". That is the difference it makes. We need to support communities.
This is a most welcome scheme. It is the first time ever that we have had a dedicated national scheme focusing solely on community centres throughout rural Ireland. I live in a small, rural village, Carrabane, in east Galway and when I look at my own community centre it is the very epicentre of life in that community right from the beginning of life through to the end of life. It starts with a mother and toddler group, it has Foróige and scouts and older citizens meet there regularly. We even have yoga for men on Monday nights which I have yet to partake in but am looking forward to.
In assessing all the applications that came in, did any trends emerge in regard to the most pressing needs from within the community centre network throughout the country? Also, I ask the Minister to contemplate at some point in the future, perhaps with Cabinet colleagues, on the real possibility that many of these centres could be used as social centres for retirement villages throughout our rural communities. There are many good examples and exemplars being established internationally now that there is an aging population that these centres could serve much more than just their current needs. They could become the epicentre for very successful retirement facilities immersed and embedded within our rural communities.
I thank Deputy Cannon. He is right actually. It could be a social centre for a retirement village. I visited Bree, Wexford, a few weeks ago where they have a wonderful community centre. It is like a campus. They have everything together including the community centre, the GAA club, with a school and a crèche beside it. These are all together, so that when you leave one you just walk to the next, which is a big advantage. This was thanks to the vision of people many years ago to buy a plot of land that made this a very successful centre. It was helping people and providing services for people with disabilities. There is a wide range of services. I was in Fettercairn, Tallaght, and launched the fund out there.
I saw the difference it will make to its centre as well. It is not just about the rural areas; it is about the city areas as well. It encourages them and helps them to do the work that they need to do. It also shows that Government is investing in them and that we want to support them.
It is no coincidence that there were more than 1,000 applicants on the basis that the Department scheduled a number of online events in May and June. That was central in order to support communities in the application process. As public representatives, it certainly made our job easier in promoting this scheme. It is positive to hear that the Government is increasing the national pot next year to €20 million. I look forward to the applications opening in 2023 and to further announcements for categories 2 and 3.
The scheme speaks for itself. The Minister referenced how hard it would be to collect €10,000 at traffic lights with a bucket. The limit of €25,000 in category 1 has made a phenomenal difference to communities. Next year, there will be many smaller groups out there looking at this. We are now at the end of 2022. When will the scheme for category 1 reopen next year?
Will the scheme be expanded next year to cover family resource centres? For example, there is a family resource centre in Cahersiveen in County Kerry doing enormously important work in the wider south Kerry community. It recently purchased a building that it is hoping to do up and improve. Unfortunately, Kerry County Council did not put it forward for funding recently under the rural regeneration scheme. However, this may be a scheme that would cover it if it could be expanded. Will the Minister please consider that?
The Minister’s policy is completely wrong. The Government is like a rich city government, chucking a few pennies up into the air and seeing rural communities scramble around to pick up the money. It is a recipe for parish pump politics and we can see Deputies smile and smirk regarding the grants that they have been involved in doling out to people.
We need to make rural areas viable on their own basis rather than dependent on handouts from the State. That is what is happening in the country. Rural areas are depleting from their young population leaving. This is the wrong approach.
Gutter politics. The Deputy is doing himself a disservice.
I cannot agree with what the Deputy said. If he was going around the country visiting communities, like I am doing-----
Deputies are smirking and smiling here about money that everybody has handed out to their people.
-----talking and listening to people-----
Where is the viability?
We are supporting communities.
They are not viable.
We are helping communities realise their ambitions. There has been unprecedented investment in rural Ireland. The Deputy is out of touch to be making those accusations. To be quite honest, he is completely out of touch.
Young people are moving out of rural Ireland.
We are listening to people.
I will go back and answer the other questions. Pobal assessed every single one of those applications.
You made process for them to assess-----
Of course we did, because this is what people wanted. I will not-----
They want viable communities.
This is what communities wanted.
Deputy Tóibín.
We consult and we talk to people. I listen to the Deputies, hear what is needed on the ground and we develop the support for communities and rural Ireland. There has been unprecedented investment, as I said earlier.
We will look at this scheme. We just allocated the funding. We will look at the findings and if we need to make changes or make it better, we are open to listening to people. The Deputy should consult with his communities, find out what they need and come back to me. That applies to all the Deputies. I did not get any suggestions from Deputy Tóibín.
I will give the Minister one on the next question.
The Deputy should consult with the communities and hear what they want on the ground. This is a bottom-up approach. Like everything we do in the Department of Rural and Community Development, it is bottom-up. It is led by communities and it is supporting and empowering them. We want to continue to do that and deliver for them. I apologise to the Acting Chair.
I thank the Deputies for their co-operation in trying to get through that big group.
76. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the progress of the Our Rural Future programme. [53398/22]
The reality of the situation is that Ireland is one of the most lopsided countries on the planet. We have a city that is radically overheating at the moment. We have a commuter belt that is sprawling into Ulster, Munster and Connacht, where people are travelling two and three hours into Dublin to go to work. Every year, we have rural areas where the population of young people is reducing. That is not a sustainable process and these are not viable communities. They do not have necessary investment into infrastructure, such as broadband, roads, rail and all of the business and enterprise investments that they need. They cannot live on these handouts over long periods.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Our Rural Future 2021-2025 is the most ambitious rural development policy for Ireland in decades. It was published in March 2021 and contains more than 150 measures across the whole of Government for both short-term recovery and long-term development.
Delivery of the Our Rural Future rural development policy is monitored through a series of work programmes and progress reports. The second progress report was published in August 2022 and covered delivery in the first half of this year. It contained updates on 148 of the 312 actions in the 2022 work programme and included contributions from 22 Departments or agencies. Some 35 of these actions were of an ongoing nature. Of the remaining 113 actions, which were due for delivery in the first half of 2022, a total of 82, or 72%, were completed. Work is under way on the third progress report, which will cover the second half of 2022.
I acknowledge the very enthusiastic engagement and inputs from across Government in respect of the implementation of Our Rural Future. My officials will shortly begin bilateral consultations with relevant Departments in preparation for the work programme for 2023. The development of these annual work programmes allows for priorities to be updated in light of emerging opportunities and challenges and the introduction of brand new measures to the overall Our Rural Future policy.
I am confident that the publication of these documents will demonstrate continued commitment to realising the ambitions of Our Rural Future in delivering this Government's vision for rural Ireland. I will finish at that.
I will give the Minister the evidence. I understand that the north and the west of this island have been downgraded to lagging region status under the Government. That is an incredible assessment from the European Union in relation to what the north and the west are undergoing at the moment. I am referring to the agreement that has unlocked funding through the bloc's cohesion policy. I have asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform whether he will confirm that the two regions have been downgraded or to release the relevant document to me. However, he has point-blank refused to do so.
This is very important. I also understand that these regions, which include the Minister's county, have been ranked at 177 out of 240 European regions. That is a damning indictment of the policy that this Government is involved in. Those areas, in European terms, are seeing a reduction in the level of development and competition that happens there. When the Government gives grants and makes communities dependent for €10,000 here or there, that does not lift their viability for families to be able to earn an income and raise children there and for young people to able to stay there and do exactly the same.
There has been multimillion euro investment in rural Ireland. Through the RRDF, there has been millions of euro invested in town centre regeneration projects and the conversion of old, derelict buildings into remote working hubs. There has been investment through the town and village streetscape enhancement initiative, which is now looking at repurposing whole buildings.
I spoke to local authority chief executives yesterday. They said very clearly that there has been unprecedented investment in rural Ireland and it is working and paying off. There are many different avenues for communities and local authorities to draw down money from central government. It is about the bottom-up approach and people identifying opportunities, weaknesses in their community, looking for funding to address those weaknesses and building on the strengths.
The population in rural areas is increasing. More and more young people are coming back to live and work in their home areas.
We have been able to afford them that opportunity through remote working. More than €100 million has been spent on remote working facilities.
I ask the Minister to address the fact that these two areas have been downgraded to lagging region status. She should ignore the core performance indicator of her Government. It is not just or fair to citizens living in the counties in the western and northern parts of this country that we are having this conversation. The Minister is not going to admit that the European Union has downgraded those areas to 177th place out of 240. Only for the Business Post releasing this information, we would not know it. Will the Minister release to the citizens of Ireland the document the European Union has provided in order that we can have transparent government and see why the European Union is downgrading regions of Ireland in terms of their ability to compete? That is the measure of how people can live. More people are returning to some rural areas and regions, but the driving force behind that has been Covid. The driving force has been the fact that people cannot live in Dublin any more because the cost of doing so has gone through the roof.
There has been €100 million in investment-----
It is a fact that people cannot get their kids into a school and they are stuck in traffic for hours every day. The driving force is that there is no quality of living because the city has become overheated; it is not that the Government is throwing a few bob here and there to the peasants in order that they can open a community centre or this, that or the other. That is the wrong way to proceed and it shows no respect for rural communities.
The Deputy's choice of language is very insulting to rural communities across the country.
The Government's policy is insulting.
No, it is not. The Government policy is working. We have spent more than €100 million on remote working facilities. We have 295 remote working facilities. I was in Donegal-----
The Minister should address the issue of the lagging regions. I asked a question on that.
I was in a remote working hub in Donegal not too long ago. A person there had returned home from America to live with their family and to work remotely.
I ask the Minister to address the issue of the lagging regions.
I was in Bree, County Wexford, where two people had come back from Australia to live in their community. They are working for Australian companies from a remote working hub supported by funding from my Department.
I do not want to be rude, but can the Minister answer the question I asked?
There are issues in certain areas. We will examine them and deal with them.
Will the Minister release the document?
I do not have a copy of the report to release, so I cannot give the Deputy an answer on that. What I can tell him-----
That should be-----
-----is that where there are problems, we will address them. When I was Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, the Border area was way behind every other area, so we developed a Border regional development fund. This is a specific fund for the six counties along the Border and it has worked. Employment in those regions has increased. Where there are issues or difficulties, we will look at them and address them.
77. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the engagement she has had with her Department regarding the Croí Cónaithe scheme for owner-occupiers in rural areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53712/22]
I ask the Minister to address the engagement between her Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of the Croí Cónaithe scheme.
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Earlier this year, my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, launched the Croí Cónaithe fund. The fund is initially focused on supporting the refurbishment of vacant homes in regional towns and villages. It is a key funding support under the town centre first policy that was jointly developed by my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The publication of Town Centre First was a key deliverable under Our Rural Future.
In July, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage launched the vacant property refurbishment grant, funded by the Croí Cónaithe towns fund. The grant will benefit those who wish to turn a formerly vacant house or building into their principal private residence.
In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage launched the ready-to-build scheme in September. This scheme will make serviced sites in towns and villages available to potential individual purchasers to build their homes. These sites will be available at a discount on the market value of the site for the building of a property for occupation as the principal private residence of the purchaser. This scheme is also funded under the Croí Cónaithe towns fund.
Given that pathway 4 of Housing for All is intended to support reuse of existing buildings and the synergy with the Government's Our Rural Future policy, I am pleased to say that it has been decided to extend the vacant property refurbishment grant to vacant properties in cities and rural areas to ensure we are using our existing housing stock to the fullest extent possible. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage expects to have that extension to cities and rural properties in place by November.
It is very welcome that the scheme is being extended to rural communities. That was probably one of the few criticisms I had of the policy and it is good to see that the Minister and her colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage have responded to that and extended the scheme to rural communities. It is a great scheme that will provide incentives for people to bring those properties back into circulation.
I have a few questions regarding interaction with local authorities. How many indications have there been up to now? How many properties are involved? There is a condition whereby the State claws back up to 100% of the grant if the person who availed of it subsequently sells the property within five years. Who administers or is responsible for that clawback?
The scheme is a really good one. All present know from walking through rural towns and villages that there are derelict houses in them. A bit of encouragement would bring people back to living in the centre of towns and villages. It is welcome that the scheme has been extended to rural houses. I acknowledge that. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage was committed to the scheme from day one. We had conversations about it and it is very welcome.
As regards our engagement with local authorities, we recently published Town Centre First, a major new policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into town centres. Town Centre First contains 33 unique actions which will give towns the tools and resources they need to become more viable and attractive places to visit, live, work and run a business. The policy is underpinned by multibillion euro investment spread across major Government schemes such as the RRDF, the urban regeneration and development fund, the Croí Cónaithe towns fund and the town and village scheme. For the first time, designated towns will gain their own dedicated town regeneration officers, who will be crucial in driving future development.
The latter point relates to Question No. 80, which I tabled. I will get onto that in a minute. As regards the administration of the scheme, if a person avails of the grant and subsequently sells the property and there is a clawback by the State, is that done through Revenue or via the local authority? What is the vehicle to ensure that clawback is in place and the scheme is not taken advantage of? There is a significant budget for the scheme, but are there targets in terms of the number of applicants it is anticipated will avail of it? Are there set targets per annum for the coming years or is it just operating on a first come, first served basis?
The scheme has been rolled out through the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the local authorities, which are administering it at a local level. I am not sure of the position with regard to the clawback. It is right that there should be a clawback. I agree with that principle in the context of a person selling a house. The idea is that the person will live in the town. People living in town centres will bring vibrancy to them. I cannot answer the Deputy's question on that aspect, but I will find out exactly what happens or who is responsible for administering the clawback clause.
The Croí Cónaithe scheme is just one part of what we are doing in rural Ireland. Under my Department, there is the town and village renewal scheme. We have expanded that scheme and funding can be sought for bigger projects up to a maximum of €500,000. In that context, we have done a lot of work in repurposing old buildings such as old Garda stations or train stations. Several different projects that have come forward through consultations with communities - asking people what they need in their area and how we can help them to realise their vision.
78. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the spend to date in 2022 under the RRDF; the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates to this fund for 2022; the value of projects approved for funding in 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53740/22]
What is the spend to date in 2022 under the RRDF? Does that take into account money carried over from last year? What is the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates for the fund for 2022?
I also ask the Minister to outline the total amount of the allocation in the Estimates for the fund in 2022 and the value of the projects approved for funding in 2022. This is important because, notoriously, there is underspending in respect of most of these schemes. What we are finding with the capital budgets at the end of each month is that there is a crazy level of underspending.
I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this matter. The RRDF provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages and rural areas across Ireland. The fund has to date allocated funding of €280 million for 191 projects across the country worth a total of €380 million. The RRDF is central to achieving the objectives and key deliverables of Our Rural Future, the Government's five year policy for rural Ireland. The projects supported by the fund assist in the regeneration of rural towns and villages by addressing vacancy and dereliction and positioning them for further growth through regeneration and town centre renewal. The fund also invests in strategic projects that contribute to further economic development in rural areas.
I thank the Minister for that information. What she is saying is that €69 million was available for spending this year but that only €20.3 million has been spent to date, which means that €49 million is left to be spent in two months. I ask the Minister to explain how it is that in ten months of the year only €20 million has been spent, when the Department had budgeted for far more. No doubt the Minister went fighting to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and told him that she needed a lot of money for this scheme. I ask the Minister to explain why the spending under this scheme is so slow. Is the infernal habit repeating itself whereby local authorities send in their bills at the end of the year?
Every time I meet local authorities, and I meet them fairly often, I continue to put pressure on them to get the money spent. As I said to them yesterday, if they do not spend the money, it is very hard for me to make the case for more money. Deputy Ó Cuív will appreciate that because there are always competing demands at budget time. The budget for this year is €69 million. We have spent more than €20 million so far, but I expect significant levels of draw down before Christmas. As the Deputy knows, the bills do tend to come in towards the end of the year.
I have taken steps to use savings in other areas this year already. For example, I transferred money into LIS. I was also able to provide some additional funding for the community centres fund and I expect much of that money will be drawn down very quickly because the grants in the first tranche are relatively small.
I assure Deputy Ó Cuív that I am continually putting pressure on local authorities to spend the money available.
What the Minister is actually telling me is that there was €60 million available this year. A sum of €20 million has been spent. When we take the €9 million out of that, however, the Department has actually only spent €11 million of this year's allocation, which is a very small percentage after ten months. The Minister said the Department will spend "a significant amount" between now and the end of the year. That phrase suggests to me that the Department might not know what will be spent. What is the Department's estimate of what will be spent between now and the end of the year, which is only really five or six weeks away when one takes the Christmas period into account?
Does the Minister foresee a carry forward once again, even though people are screaming for money under schemes like LIS? Does she foresee a significant carry forward by her Department of capital funding into next year?
I expect to see significant spending in November and December. Some of these projects are taking longer than anybody would like. They have had problems with supply chains. One project is awaiting a particular piece of equipment before it can be finished and we are seeing that right across the board. I am putting the pressure on constantly. When one sees the finished projects, even if they take a bit longer than expected, they are well worth it. I was in New Ross a couple of weeks ago. The project there took a lot longer than they thought it would but my goodness, it is some project. They have regenerated the centre of the town. Sometimes there are delays with the large-scale projects but they are very impactful, in terms of making a real difference in town centres.
It is too early to say exactly what the savings will be this year but I am trying to keep any carry over to the bare minimum. Like Deputy Ó Cuív, when he was in this Department, I am trying to keep the spending going and the pressure on.
79. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the applications for funding under the RRDF for County Mayo; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53899/22]
The RRDF is crucially important for some vital projects in Mayo that are currently in planning and development stages. I ask the Minister to provide an update on the fund, which is a lifesaver for many rural communities.
I thank Deputy Dillon for raising this issue. Funding of around €280 million has already been allocated nationally under the RRDF. More than €21 million has been approved to date in respect of 15 projects located in Mayo costing over €30 million. Mayo has the second highest allocation of funding in the country.
I know that Deputy Dillon is particularly interested in two projects in Ballinrobe and Newport in County Mayo. He has brought them to my attention previously.
It is good to hear the Minister outline that Mayo's record in the delivery of RRDF projects is the second highest in the country, with over €30 million worth of projects delivered. One such project is the Connaught GAA centre of excellence and air dome based in Bekan outside Ballyhaunis. It is a fantastic facility that is used by so many young people and up-and-coming underage footballers.
I would also like to make the call for Ballinrobe civic arts and amenity centre, a hugely important project for the community in Ballinrobe. The project will cost somewhere in the region of €4.5 million and will reform the centre of Ballinrobe town.
There is also the Newport regeneration project, which is led by Mayo County Council. Those two projects will be game changers in both those communities. I would advocate strongly that they be successful in the next call under category 1 of the RRDF.
I cannot give the Deputy a commitment on that now but I hear what he is saying. I had thought the Deputy would mention the Connacht GAA dome. It is a great job. I believe it has been very successful. That was funded from my Department. These projects are all mighty big multimillion-euro projects. They are all assessed independently and, as I said, are nearly at a final stage. I will be announcing them in a few weeks' time.
