The Fine Gael-led Government is “failing miserably to deliver for rural Ireland”, according to Fianna Fáil spokesperson on rural, community, and Gaeltacht affairs Dara Calleary TD.

Calleary said that parliamentary question replies show that €270m was unspent on rural schemes administered by the Department of Rural and Community Development at the end of August.

“These include the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme; town and village renewal scheme; CLÁR, the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS), the rural regeneration fund and LEADER,” he said, speaking at the National Ploughing Championships on Tuesday.

Underspend

The Fine Fáil deputy leader added that between the period of 2017 and 2019, there was an underspend of €111m in those key schemes.

“In the region of €56m still remains on Departmental funds allocated to the town and village renewal scheme and the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme going back two years,” he said.

“Yet, the numbers get worse. The much-heralded rural regeneration fund was launched 14 months ago with €52m allocated for 2019.

"To date, just €4.1m in project funding has been released by the Department, representing an underspend of 92%,” Calleary said.

Deadline

“There are just 16 months remaining in the current 2014-2020 LEADER programme, which is a key rural development programme.

"However, despite €250m allocated to the seven-year programme, €159m remains unspent or 72% of total funds.”

The TD called on Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring to outline how the unspent money will be spent and to outline a spending timetable.

He described the underspend as an “atrocious oversight” and a “bitter indictment of Fine Gael’s stewardship of the rural department”.

“Rural communities have lost confidence in Fine Gael’s ability to govern competently, as seen by the mal-administration of these rural schemes. No spin can cloud over how rural Ireland is being short-changed €270m,” he said.

Minister response

In response to Dara Calleary’s comments, a spokesperson for the Department of Rural and Community Development said that there is no such underspend.

“Last year, the Department had a total budget of €239.2m and spent €237.5m of this. The savings made mainly related to administration costs, savings on staff and admin overheads.”

According to the spokesperson, for the year to date in 2019, the Department’s spend is “very much on target”. Since the Town and Village Renewal Scheme and Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Schemes commenced in 2016, there have been approvals of €91.5m with payments of €51m made for completed works.”

There are commitments of €39.9m remaining on these schemes which will be paid when the work is completed.

Meanwhile, Minister Ring has denied the accusations saying: “Let me be clear: there is no underspend in relation to my Department’s funding of rural communities. This is a deliberate and reckless attempt by Fianna Fáil to mislead people.”

That’s no way to run things and it’s not going to happen on my watch

“This Government is spending more money on rural communities than ever before and it is spending it on time. When Dara Calleary’s party were last in Government, we didn’t have any money to spend on rural communities,” he continued.

The minister outlined how long it can take for projects to be delivered and explained that only after completion do they then receive payment, which “can take up to two years”.

Minister Ring finished by branding Calleary’s comments as “misleading” and said: “Maybe he thinks we should hand over the money before the work has even started. That’s no way to run things and it’s not going to happen on my watch.”