2026-03-26

8. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht whether he will expand the town and village renewal scheme to allow for Dublin west villages to meet eligibility criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22377/26]

The Minister and the Minister of State will both be familiar with this question because I have met them previously. When it comes to funding streams and Dublin West, our Dublin 15 villages are too big for the likes of town and village renewal scheme or are too small for the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF. I would like an update on our discussions on that please.

I thank the Deputy for her question and her ongoing interest in this area. In line with commitments in Our Rural Future, my Department supports a wide range of strategic capital investment schemes, ringfenced under the rural development investment programme, to transform rural towns and villages, making them thriving places to live, work, raise families and build enterprises. These schemes include the rural regeneration and development fund, LEADER, and the town and village renewal scheme. The scheme was introduced in 2016. It is designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since the launch of the scheme, more than €210 million has been allocated to over 1,900 projects. While applications for towns with populations of up to 15,000 people are accepted in certain circumstances, the scheme specifically targets funding at rural towns and villages with populations of less than 10,000. I am anxious to ensure that the design of schemes such as the town and village renewal scheme ensures that we are using available funding in the most efficient and effective manner. With this in mind, the terms and conditions of each scheme are reviewed each year. In advance of the launch of the next iteration of the town and village renewal scheme, I will examine the approach to eligible towns, including smaller villages in the Dublin West region as referenced by the Deputy. I also of note that, under the umbrella of the town centre first policy, funding is also available to local authorities to support larger and more urban settlements. This includes the Thrive scheme and the towns and cities regeneration investment fund, which was recently announced by my colleague the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This fund, which is currently open for applications from those towns with populations of over 9,000, builds on the success of the previous URDF. We have also been in a position to fund some of the rural parts of Dublin, in Fingal in particular, through the town and village scheme and through the outdoor recreation investment scheme, ORIS. I would be happy to engage with the Deputy, with South Dublin County Council and with our colleagues in Fingal County Council around how we are able to do that and the kinds of projects that we fund, which goes back to our previous discussion on enhancing town centres.

I thank the Minister and the Minister of State genuinely for engaging with me on this because I feel they understand the challenge we have. Our Dublin 15 villages are falling between two stools. I am talking about villages like Castleknock, where the Minister was yesterday for which I thank him, along with Clonsilla, Blanchardstown, Mulhuddart and Corduff. These are distinct communities. They are not just traffic through ways and they are not just part of urban sprawl. They want to support their businesses, they want to protect their heritage and they want to promote their village centres. What we are really lacking is that place-making ability for these villages that do have their individual sense of identity. When we support businesses and bring footfall into villages it contributes to that sense of community.

I agree with the Deputy. While the primary focus of the rural development scheme is going to remain on rural areas we have funded projects in Fingal and in south Dublin under the outdoor recreation scheme. Under the town and village scheme in Fingal, we were able to fund the development of new walking and cycling facilities and associated streetscape enhancement measures. In Balrothery, Donabate, Rush and Ballyboughal we approved over €218,000 for village centre seating enhanced public lighting and the creation of a wayfinding strategy to include a new Fingal camino route. Where local authorities in Dublin engage with us and with the ethos of the schemes we are more than happy to engage with them. Given that Castleknock is in the Fingal area, there is huge potential particularly in the more rural parts of Dublin West, of which there are some.

Those villages are entitled to apply under the town and village renewal scheme but our villages in Dublin 15 currently are not. I will touch on what our communities are doing. The Castleknock business forum was set up at the beginning of last year. The members have done a survey that points to traffic issues. They are diagnosing the problems but do not have the funding to come up with the solutions and to activate those. In Corduff, we have just launched a standard 2 report about place-making, and 146 residents and organisations took part. Again, the problems are being identified but we need the funding stream to activate the solutions. Fingal County Council is totally on board with what I am bringing to the Minister's attention. It realises there is a problem. It will facilitate our villages in Dublin 15 like Blanchardstown and Castleknock with a town centre first health check, but it brings us back to the same issue. If we do not have the specific funding streams like the town and village renewal scheme, then we are not being given the same opportunities to activate those solutions to bring people into the village, promote village life and give them that identity and the place-making they truly deserve.

The more the Deputy can engage under town centre first principles, the stronger the case, and we will work with her. The Minister of State, as a Deputy in a city constituency with similar villages, is strong on this. Working collectively, we will work with the Deputy, Fingal County Council and our colleagues. If it can be done under the town centre first principles, something we align funding to in a lot of rural areas, the more it can be done with community ownership. I welcome the initiatives undertaken in Castleknock and the other areas. If there is community ownership rather than it coming top down from the local authority or from this House, then all the better. We will engage with the Deputy. We are currently reviewing the town and village renewal scheme for 2026. It will more likely be a 2027 initiative, but we will engage with the Deputy on it. I point her and the groups she is working with to some of the good work being done in rural parts of Fingal to get examples of protecting traditional villages amidst the growth of the city.