Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 467 and 469 together.

The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) supports improving rural roads and laneways not usually maintained by local authorities. As part of Our Rural Future, the Government is committed to ensuring that the LIS is funded into the future.

While my department provides funding for the scheme, it is administered by each local authority, who are responsible for the selection and prioritisation of roads. Local authorities receive applications directly and then make a determination about the eligibility and prioritisation of roads for inclusion under the scheme based on criteria in any given year. Local authorities also decide whether or not to open the scheme to new applicants or to focus on existing lists.

As such, the Department has no information regarding the actual numbers of applications received by local authorities. The Department's role is to approve priority lists submitted to it by local authorities. As each year progresses, the Department maintains ongoing engagement with local authorities to accommodate any changes that might be required to priority lists due to local circumstances.

Below is a table outlining the final number of roads approved by the Department each year and completed per county since 2017.

County	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	Total
Carlow	20	28	14	15	25	37	21	160
Cavan	10	12	4	4	22	25	23	100
Clare	28	30	12	12	20	25	22	149
Cork	34	62	20	19	29	22	47	233
Donegal	164	107	35	35	67	68	64	540
Galway	57	69	36	30	49	50	39	330
Kerry	41	61	21	9	18	23	23	196
Kildare	0	12	8	4	8	11	6	49
Kilkenny	16	16	9	7	19	11	11	89
Laois	21	15	7	7	13	23	23	109
Leitrim	20	24	11	9	17	31	24	136
Limerick	18	22	13	8	42	27	17	147
Longford	18	25	15	8	14	18	15	113
Louth	8	6	6	10	10	12	10	62
Mayo	89	144	74	53	91	31	67	549
Meath	22	21	12	5	17	9	14	100
Monaghan	21	28	14	12	26	14	30	145
Offaly	23	31	16	14	29	32	26	171
Roscommon	41	91	21	27	30	24	17	251
Sligo	16	22	7	6	15	18	23	107
Tipperary	10	32	21	20	25	35	40	183
Waterford	17	20	3	5	14	11	12	82
Westmeath	23	22	12	12	24	20	13	126
Wexford	18	17	11	13	22	23	21	125
Wicklow	7	15	10	6	14	8	11	71
Total	742	932	412	350	660	608	619	4323

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development, helps local authorities improve small roads and laneways in rural areas not normally maintained by local authorities.

Eligible road projects are those that involve the construction or improvement of non-public roads as follows:

• to parcels of land, of which two or more are owned or occupied by different persons, one of which must be engaged in agricultural activities or
• for harvesting purposes (including turf or seaweed) for two or more persons or
• to at least one parcel of land owned or occupied by a person engaged in agricultural activities and which separately provides access for harvesting purposes (including turf or seaweed) for at least one other person.

In addition, work can be carried out on amenity roads, which are non-public roads leading to essential community amenities such as graveyards, beaches, piers, mountain access points, or other tourist/heritage sites.

The responsibility for determining the eligibility and selection of road projects to be completed within each county is a matter exclusively for each local authority. Local authorities submit their priority lists to my Department and each local authority retains the waiting lists of roads awaiting repair under the Scheme.

As such, the Department does not hold information regarding the number of roads per county or local authority area which were not approved for funding under LIS.