Rural schemes across Ireland have seen an underspend of over €60 million in the last two years.

In response to parliamentary questions from Fianna Fáil Deputy Leader Dara Calleary TD, it was revealed that funds allocated from rural schemes in 2017 and 2018 suffered from a significant underspend. These included the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure scheme; Town & Village Renewal scheme; CLÁR and the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS).

-- Advertisement --

The Town & Village Renewal scheme has still nearly a third of its funds from 2017 unspent (€6.8m). Despite €21.3m being allocated to the scheme for 2018, only €50,000 has been issued in actual payments to projects seven months on from its launch.

Only half of the 2017 Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure budget has been spent, while recent project figures for the LEADER programme revealed an 80% underspend.

Commenting on the figures, Deputy Calleary said: "The government, led by the Taoiseach, take more pride in making announcements than actually delivering for people in rural parishes nationwide.

"With the local elections approaching, people in rural Ireland will adjudicate on the government's abject record that prioritises spin over substance at every opportunity."

(CM)