Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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2068.To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the up-to-date position regarding the review of Clár areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[35992/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department's CLÁR scheme is a targeted investment programme that provides funding for small scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. This scheme has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Under the 2023 scheme I approved over €13 million for 303 projects.

The areas originally selected for inclusion in the programme in 2001 were those which suffered the greatest level of population decline from 1926 to 1996. The average population loss in the original CLÁR areas over the period 1926 to 1996 was 50%.

In 2006, an analysis of the 2002 Census data was carried out by Maynooth University and the programme was extended to include areas with an average population loss of 35% between 1926 and 2002.

A national review of CLÁR areas was subsequently undertaken in 2021 using the 2016 Census of Population data. From the review it is clear that many areas have seen population growth in the relevant period rather than decline, and indeed the most recent census data published by the Central Statistics Office points to further population growth across all counties since 2016.

The details of the review continue to be considered by my Department. In addition, the implications of the latest Census data would need to be evaluated before any decisions are made in relation to changing areas eligible for funding under the CLÁR programme. I believe that the current designation has served us very well and I don’t want to make changes unless they add value to the scheme.

Furthermore, it is important to also consider the context in which CLÁR now operates. I have developed a suite of supports for communities in rural areas so that there are a range of different funding options available to rural communities, be they in CLÁR areas or otherwise. There is the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme and the Community Centres Investment Fund to name a few.

I look forward to announcing more successful projects under CLÁR 2024 later in the year.