An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD and the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD have today (Friday) announced the first successful applicants under the Government’s €1 billion Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, which aims to breathe new life into Ireland’s smaller towns and villages.
At a special event in Sligo the Taoiseach, Minister Ring and Minister of State, Sean Canney TD outlined the scale and ambition of the fund. In total some €1 billion in funding will be allocated over the next 10 years for rural communities with a population of fewer than 10,000, as part of the Project Ireland 2040 plan to redevelop Ireland.
The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund aims to rejuvenate smaller towns, villages and rural areas, generate job opportunities in rural areas, and help communities to improve their quality of life. More than 290 projects applied for this first stage, with the focus in this round on heritage and tourism, infrastructural improvement, economic development, and rural regeneration.
Some of the successful projects announced at today’s event include:
· Conversion of prominent heritage building in Kinsale, Co Cork into a local public library
· A new National Centre of Excellence for Surfing in Strandhill, Co Sligo
· Converting the Valentia Island Trans-Atlantic Cable Station in Co Kerry into a museum and business innovation hub
· Restoration of the 800 metre Borris Railway viaduct in Co Carlow - linking the town to local walkways
· Restoration of Swan Park in Buncrana, Donegal following its devastation by flooding last year
Today’s announcement focuses on 18 projects to be supported in 2019, totalling €24.4 million. €55 million in total has been allocated to the Fund for 2019 and further announcements of projects to be funded in 2019 will follow shortly. A detailed list of the successful projects announced today is provided below.
Over 290 applications for funding were received from a wide variety of state funded bodies in 2019. Over the next four years, €315 million will be invested in rural communities through the Fund.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD said: “In May, I was joined by Ministerial colleagues to launch four game-changing funds under Project Ireland 2040, with a total investment of €4 billion. Together these funds represent a new and innovative approach to investment and capital spending in Ireland.
These Funds are competitive and open to a wide variety of partners, so if you have an idea to improve your area, develop new technologies, encourage climate action, you have the opportunity to make a real difference.
“The €1 billion Rural Fund will enable towns, villages and outlying rural areas to grow sustainably. It’s all about making Rural Ireland a more attractive place to stay, move into or run a business. Today, as we announce the first round of funding under the Rural Fund, I am struck by the dynamism of the ideas that were submitted. Projects involving heritage, regeneration and the public realm, greenways, telecommunications, tourism, environment, enterprise, and public transport. Some, however, stood out from the pack and they are the ones being awarded today. They are projects that have significant potential to improve rural Ireland and to do so quickly; these projects will hit the ground running and I look forward to seeing the results.”
Commenting on today’s funding allocation, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD, said: "The Rural Regeneration and Development Fund will provide the impetus for the transformation of hundreds of rural towns and villages over the next ten years. By 2040, our population will have increased by 1 million. Half of that population growth will take place in rural Ireland. Rural Ireland is integral to the future development of our country and this Fund will facilitate rural growth and prosperity and will strengthen rural communities.
“I am delighted that my Department has received 290 submissions from across the country. The funding support announced today for different types of projects will be transformative for the communities concerned.
“I am looking forward to seeing the difference this funding will make on the ground throughout rural Ireland. I believe that this Fund will continue to achieve even more for rural renewal over its lifetime through a pipeline of ambitious projects. Today’s announcement is just the start and I will make further announcements of successful projects early in 2019.”
A detailed list of the successful projects announced today is provided on the Department of Rural and Community Development website.
Note to editors:
The Department of Rural and Community Development:
The Department was established on 19th July 2017 to provide a renewed and consolidated focus on rural and community development in Ireland.
The consolidation into a new Department of both policy and supports in respect of community and rural development provides the means for a greater focus on creating vibrant and sustainable communities. The Department also has responsibility for ensuring arrangements for strong oversight of the charities sector through facilitating the Charities Regulatory Authority in carrying-out its independent statutory role.
Project Ireland 2040:
Project Ireland 2040 is the Government’s overarching policy initiative to make Ireland a better country for all of us, a country that reflects the best of who we are and what we aspire to be.
Project Ireland 2040 is informed by the Programme for a Partnership Government 2016, which recognises that economic and social progress go hand in hand, as well as by the National Planning Framework to 2040 and the National Development Plan 2018-2027.
Project Ireland 2040 emphasises social outcomes and values ahead of economic targets. It prioritises the wellbeing of all of our people, wherever they live and whatever their background.
€4 billion Project Ireland 2040 funds:
The four funds are a major innovation in Project Ireland 2040. Rather than allocating funding in a ‘business as usual’ way to Government Departments, money will be allocated competitively to the best projects, which leverage investment from other sources thereby ensuring that the impact of this investment goes much, much further.
• €2 billion Urban Regeneration and Development Fund
• €1 billion Rural Development Fund
• €500 million Climate Action Fund
• €500 million Disruptive Technologies Fund
€1 billion Rural Regeneration and Development Fund:
The overall objective of this fund is to deliver the strategic outcomes of Project Ireland 2040, and in particular to strengthen rural economies rural communities by rejuvenating smaller towns and villages, helping to diversify employment opportunities in rural areas, supporting the development of rural communities and improving their quality of life. The fund will target towns with a population of less than 10,000 people, as well as villages and outlying rural areas.
The fund will encourage collaborative approaches between Departments, agencies, Local Authorities and other public bodies, and the private sector, where appropriate, to pool their assets and work with communities to transform our rural towns and villages and their outlying areas. Proposals will be expected to be consistent with the National Planning Framework objectives and provide a strategic integrated approach which is consistent with regional and local plans for the area.
Projects must demonstrate a capacity to add value to other public investments. There will be a requirement for a co-funding contribution from other public or private sources – expected to be of the order of 25%. The first phase will also allow for technical supports for preparatory groundwork for future phase investments, through Local Authorities and other locally based organisations.