More finance has been made available for community capital projects in rural areas of Ireland.

The European Commission's move to relax Axes 3 & 4 (LEADER Axes) of the Rural Development Programme Ireland 2007-2013 has been welcomed by Communities Minister Éamon Ó Cuív.

The programme represents an overall public investment of €425m, allocated to facilitate improvements in rural areas and the diversification and development of the rural economy.

The maximum rate of public funding in such cases will now be 95%, which Mr Ó Cuív said will be a major boost to local communities and local authorities in funding projects.

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For non-commercial projects, the maximum aid available under the programme to date was 75% but many communities were finding it difficult to raise the other 25% for the provision of Village Renewal, Conservation of the Rural Heritage and Basic Services Projects.

As the European Commission has now agreed that up to 95% of funding can be provided between LEADER funding and local authority funding, this will enable projects of a larger scale and of a greater variety to proceed.

There is a major emphasis on the importance of the provision of facilities for rural recreation such as car parks as well as the development of rural villages to provide high quality public amenities.

Under Village Renewal, works such as pavements, lighting, art and landscaping are eligible for funding.

(PR/KMcA)