Éamon Ó Cuív T.D., Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs announced today that he has allocated €364,805 for works on Local Improvement Scheme Roads in CLÁR areas in County Sligo. CLÁR is a programme designed to tackle the problem of depopulation, decline and lack of services in rural areas.
Local Improvement Scheme roads are non-county roads, often leading to houses and important community amenities such as graveyards, beaches, piers, mountains, etc. There must be more than 1 landholder on an LIS road and the road must be open to the public.
The funding provided by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is additional to funding already allocated to LIS roads by the Local Authority (from funds provided by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government). In effect, this will increase the number of LIS roads to be improved in CLÁR areas this year by 50%. In some counties, the waiting list for LIS roads was up to 9 years. This scheme will dramatically reduce these waiting lists.
The areas included in the CLÁR programme were extended on the 11th April 2006, doubling the population covered. The new CLAR areas are eligible for funding under the Local Improvement Scheme this year. This extension, along with the 100% increase in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government’s 2006 Local Improvements Scheme allocations means, in essence, that the CLÁR investment could more than double in 2006 compared to 2005.
Details of the 15 roads in Co. Sligo approved for CLÁR funding by the Minister, are available from the Press and Information Office.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The CLÁR programme is a targeted investment programme for rural areas that suffered more than a 35% drop in population between 1926 and 2002. The programme covers parts of 22 counties and all of Co. Leitrim and benefits a population of nearly 727,000. CLÁR schemes cover a wide variety of developments such as village, housing and schools enhancement, electricity conversion, roads, water supply, sewerage disposal, health, coastal, sports and community projects.
Areas targeted under the CLÁR Programme:
Parts of: Counties Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wicklow and all of County Leitrim.