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Dáil
‹ Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation

Croí Cónaithe rural uptake

Summary

Deputy Ó Cuív asked for data on applications to the Croí Cónaithe scheme from rural and urban areas after its extension to one-off homes. The Minister said the scheme was working strongly, with over 7,000 applications, 3,600 approvals and increased rural uptake.

Tá obair iontach déanta ag an Aire sna ceantair tuaithe. He has done a lot of things including extending the first home scheme to rural areas. He is also carrying out a review of Gaeltacht planning and so on. The measure that has had the most immediate impact in rural Ireland is probably the extension of the Croí Cónaithe scheme to single houses in rural areas. There is a substantial amount of interest in that scheme in rural Ireland. Does the Minister have any data as to the number of applications received from rural areas as opposed to urban areas since he made the groundbreaking decision to extend the scheme to rural areas? My second question relates to the first. Do we have any information on the delay with inspections in different county councils because that is the only cloud on the horizon with this scheme? When people apply, they like to get a fairly quick response.

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Gabhaim buíochas le Deputy Ó Cuív as ucht na ceiste. Is cinnte go bhfuil deontas folúntais Chroí Cónaithe ag obair go dian tríd an tír. People have responded to it extremely well with over 7,000 applications and 3,600 approvals. We update it per local authority and we are now building data on one-off homes. Since the scheme was extended to rural homes, we have seen a really big uptake. I have received approval to double our targets this year. I want more grant applications coming in. The average processing time is approximately 11 weeks. We only want two inspections: one at the start and one at the end. I had a meeting with Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann yesterday. We have now seen 14 applications from our islands, which is not insignificant. I have committed to looking at further increasing the grant for islands based on the Deputy's intervention. We should do that because of the additional costs for our islands. We want to make sure that island populations can be regenerated and rejuvenated. I will get that data and send it on to the Deputy.

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