I am open to constructive feedback but proposals for additional expenditure on that basis are simply not affordable or realistic. The Green Paper proposes an alternative solution of increasing disability supports, be they financial or employment-related, for the benefit of people with disabilities. In budget 2024, I was keen to build on previous budgets by increasing the supports for disabled people. The €12 rate increase will bring the weekly payment of disability allowance and the blind pension up to €232 per wee…

My priority for budget 2024 was to support families and households throughout the winter and beyond. We have delivered a budget that puts more money back into people's pockets. As Minister for Social Protection, I advocated for the need to look after our pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, working families and vulnerable groups, and this evening I am pleased to set out the details of the largest social protection budget package in the history of the State. The overall social protection budget 2024 package…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. If the scheme is run under the auspices of Local Link, it is possibly the responsibility of the Department of Transport. I will be happy to talk to the Deputy about the issue. I understand as well as she does how important it is to have transport services in rural Ireland. I will speak to the Deputy afterwards to get the details. If I can give any help, I will certainly do so.

We are all conscious of the huge contribution carers make. I made some considerable changes in last year's budget to the carer's disregard in terms of savings allowed and an increase in income limits such that people can earn more money and still qualify for the carer's allowance. I keep all these matters under review. Carers certainly will be a focus in this budget, along with people with disabilities, many of whom are the people being cared for, and pensioners.

I thank the Deputy for asking this question. Introduced in 2016, the town and village renewal scheme is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate towns and villages throughout Ireland. Since its launch, over €156 million has been allocated to more than 1,700 projects supporting towns and villages the length and breadth of the country. As committed to in Our Rural Future, Ireland's rural development policy, the town and village renewal scheme priorities are reviewed at the end of each scheme year to ensure …

I am delighted the Deputy was on Árainn Mhór because I was there earlier in the year when we launched the islands policy. That lovely plaza on the beach was funded through my Department. It is a wonderful asset to the community. There is also a fantastic remote working hub on the island. I was delighted, when I was watching Culture Night, that one of the shows came live from Árainn Mhór, on the plaza on the beach. It would do your heart good just to see it. There is a really vibrant community in Árainn Mhór. I have…

There is a wonderful road out to the lighthouse. It was in a bit of a mess, to say the least. That has all been funded. That is a good news story. We need to build on that. The town and village renewal scheme was set up way back in 2016 when I was in the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. I introduced the scheme. It is a bottom-up approach. That means that communities know what they want and I think it is a good scheme.

We have increased the maximum grant under the town and village renewal scheme to €500,000. Last year, there was €27 million under the scheme. As I said, it is a ground-up approach. We put a focus on improving streetscape. There have been grants for businesses to do up their premises, put on the traditional shopfront, paint the building and put in some outdoor dining spaces. That is making a real difference. We have a larger project where local groups can use town and village renewal scheme funding to buy an old bui…

As part of the Our Rural Future policy and the new national outdoor recreation strategy, Embracing Ireland’s Outdoors, I am committed to building on the wonderful opportunities provided by Ireland’s outdoor recreation sector. Indeed, Waterford is a great example of what is possible in this sector. The outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme, ORIS, provides funding for the development and enhancement of outdoor recreational infrastructure, such as walking trails, cycleways, blueways and mountain trails. Since the l…

The Deputy is very fortunate to come from Waterford because it is a beautiful county. The Deputy was there when I visited St. Declan's Way and I was also at the fabulous Mount Congreve Gardens, which is such a wonderful amenity. There are 115 km of beautiful walks and scenery and I am delighted my Department has been able to support the projects. Of course, there is also the Waterford greenway, which is a big tourism draw for the county. Since the pandemic, as we all know, there is a newfound appreciation for the o…

It has been my pleasure to travel to Waterford a few times and I will be delighted to get back down again to see more of the projects. The good news is that I will be announcing more projects early next year. The applications have not closed for measures two and three. They will be closing on 27 October. They will be coming in at the end of October and then they will be assessed. We will announce the successful applications in the first quarter. As I said, get the applications in, because they are a great asset to …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 53 together. The local improvement scheme, LIS, supports the improvement of rural roads and laneways that are not normally maintained by local authorities. As part of Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, the Government is committed to ensuring that the LIS is funded into the future. The scheme makes an important contribution to connectivity, which I view as an important issue for rural Ireland, whether it be access to homes, farms or outdoor amenities. Indeed…

I agree with the Deputy; when they are allocated the money, they would want to spend it. I like to keep the pressure on to spend it, because if they do not spend the money, I have to give back. It is not that easy to get in the first place. As the Deputy knows, €114 million has been spent in the past five to six years. I would love to put more money into funding the LIS. I did put more in this year and last year. In total, I allocated an additional €16 million in July of this year. The funding must be spent on upgr…

I thank the Deputy. We fund the roads through the LIS. They are private lanes. I do not know about the process of taking in charge, but after time has passed and after roads have fallen into disrepair, one can reapply. I have seen instances of people who have reapplied to have them resurfaced. It is not at the same expense that they were originally, but it is up to the landowners to try to keep them in good shape. I received a message this evening from someone who had been waiting a long number of years. The person…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Our Rural Future commits to developing an effective rural proofing model to ensure that the needs of rural communities are fully considered in the development of Government policies. To advance this measure, my officials commissioned research in this area. The resulting report, entitled “Proposals for a Rural Proofing model for Ireland”, was published in January. The report outlines options that could be applied and assesses the merits and potential barriers to their impl…

Rural proofing is a tool to support the policymaking process. There are more examples of rural proofing models failing than of being successful. We want to use the test cases to develop an approach that suits the national conditions. When every Department makes decisions, I want it to think rural. It is as simple as that. It is a question of how to ensure that happens each time. The Deputy referred to social enterprises. We are developing a social enterprise policy. I am supportive of social enterprises across the …

We are developing the social enterprise strategy. It is important that this be done as quickly as possible. I will be working on it. I want to ensure that all of these strategies are right. We found it took a long time to develop the island strategy, but we got there in the end and it was welcomed as a good strategy. Our Rural Future is a good policy document and has been recognised by the OECD as best practice internationally in terms of rural development policy. This year, I attended the future forum on rural dev…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 83 together. I thank both Deputies for raising this matter. The local improvement scheme, LIS, supports the continued improvement of non-public roads and lanes that are not normally maintained by local authorities. As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the LIS is funded into the future. I am very aware of the importance of the works funded by the LIS across the country. As the Deputies will be aware, the LIS was reintroduced by my Departmen…

The Department of Transport has a large capital budget, which is far more than what I have in my Department. I have raised this matter with the Minister for Transport on a number of occasions and will continue to do so. The Department of Transport has a role in this area. I funded the additional money through savings in other areas in my Department. I have managed to do that over the past number of years but as projects in other funding areas, such as some of the other schemes I fund, fall due, there may not be as …

We recently funded town centre first officers in all local authorities. That is an extra resource. We have the rural recreation officers as well, whom we fund. To return to the LIS, Kerry indicated it could deliver €3.6 million worth of works in 2024, while Cork indicated it could deliver €5.4 million of works in the same year. Kerry County Council had a small underspend of almost 10% in 2022, as did Cork. The Deputies may keep the councils at it and make them spend the money. As regards Cork being number three, th…