490. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the number of vacant or derelict buildings have been acquired and brought back into productive community use through the town and village renewal scheme and Rural Regeneration and Development Fund since 2022, broken down by county and year; the number of acquired buildings that remain vacant or awaiting redevelopment; and the additional funding being provided in 2027 to accelerate their redevelopment. [75089/26]

The Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS) and the Rural Regeneration and Development fund (RRDF) are measures designed to help rejuvenate rural towns and villages in line with the policy objectives of Our Rural Future and the Town Centre First policy.

Rather than being specific to the acquisition of vacant and derelict buildings, both the TVRS and the RRDF provide funding to support a range of town centre regeneration works. Where this entails the upgrade of buildings, broadly speaking, it is for buildings already in the ownership of our County Councils or their communities at the time of funding application.

Since 2022, almost €62 million in funding has been approved under the TVRS ‘Main Scheme’. This included funding for projects which have seen varying degrees of renovation and upgrade of buildings already in the ownership (or long term leasehold) of the applicants.  It has also included other works such as public realm works and streetscape improvements.

In 2022, a TVRS ‘Building Acquisition Measure’ was introduced to enable local authorities to acquire vacant or derelict buildings. In 2025 the Measure was expanded to include land acquisition, becoming the Building and Land Acquisition Measure (BLAM), which continued in 2026. Since 2022 over €29 million has been approved under this acquisition measure. Details of number of properties by county allocated funding since 2022 is provided in the attached Table 1. Details of projects funded under the 2026 BLAM measure will not be disclosed until conveyancing has been completed due to reasons of commercial sensitivity.

BLAM funds the purchase of buildings and lands which may have become available rather than their renovation.  This then allows local authorities time to develop plans for the properties and either fund their renovation through own resources and/or seek an alternative funding line.  This may include funds made available through other Government streams, or from within my department - in which case the local authority would make an application is response to a Call for Proposals issued by my department in the normal manner.

The RRDF is a major capital investment programme which seeks to support large-scale, ambitious projects which can achieve sustainable economic and social development in rural areas. Experience to date indicates that the typical lifecycle of RRDF capital build projects, as large-scale infrastructure projects, typically ranges between 3 and 5 years.

Funding under RRDF is generally made available to local authorities and other State funded bodies, often working with communities. Broadly speaking, applicants for RRDF funding will already own those buildings for which they are seeking RRDF funding.

In some cases, funding can be provided under an RRDF developmental funding stream (Category 2) to allow the prior acquisition of a building, where it is critical to deliver major regeneration work in a town or village which can subsequently be funded under Category 1 RRDF calls for proposals. Table 2 details of such buildings purchased under the RRDF since 2022.

To date, over €611 million has been allocated to 271 RRDF projects across the country. This includes projects with measures to address building vacancy and dereliction to encourage town centre regeneration, including building refurbishment, redevelopment and/or demolition.

Details of all TVRS and RRDF projects funded can be found on my department’s website.

I am committed to ensuring that my department’s schemes can continue to support high quality and transformational projects across rural Ireland in line with the objectives of Our Rural Future and the Town Centre First policy.

FTE Staffing