The Government’s enhanced Town and Village Scheme will help to ‘rejuvenate and revitalise rural Ireland’, according to the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys, as more than 170 towns and villages around Ireland were announced as beneficiaries of the scheme.
Locally, Fermoy and Tallow will receive €47,500 and €80,000 respectively for projects, with €10 million being allocated in total in 2016. Fermoy are putting their allocation towards a revamp of Abbey Street, while Tallow are focusing on transforming a derelict site into an amenity site.
The delivery of an enhanced Town and Village Scheme in time for Budget 2017 was a commitment in the Programme for A Partnership Government. Under Budget 2017, Minister Humphreys also announced that she has secured increased funding for the scheme for 2017, when €12 million will be made available to towns and villages across the country.
Funding awarded to each individual town and village under the 2016 scheme ranges from €17,000 to €100,000.
The funding is being used for a wide variety of projects identified by Local Authorities in conjunction with local community groups and businesses, including improving playgrounds and footpaths, tourism amenities, public art pieces and a wide range of works to improve the streetscape and public realm of towns and villages nationwide, to help make them more attractive and more sustainable places in which to live and work.
Minister Humphreys said this week: “This scheme is an important part of my Department’s work to rejuvenate and revitalise rural Ireland. I have more than doubled the funding for the scheme in 2016, and additional money will be available again in 2017, which should have a significant impact on towns and villages across the country.
“Rural development is of course a key priority for this Government. Our towns and villages are the heart of our rural communities, but many of them are still recovering from the economic downturn,” she said, adding that the scheme is designed ‘to help breathe life back into the country’s rural towns and villages.
