Wicklow council sitting on €3.19m in regeneration funds as projects stall
The Wicklow PeopleWicklow County Council is carrying more than €3.19 million in unspent Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) allocations, including funding dating back to 2019, placing it among the slower local authorities in the country when it comes to drawing down regeneration money.
New data shows that while many counties hold large RRDF balances, Wicklow stands out because so much unspent funding is tied to older approvals that have yet to progress to construction or, in some cases, have stalled entirely.
The long‑delayed Baltinglass public realm scheme, a project approved seven years ago, it still not at construction stage and is now not expected to be completed until 2028.
In 2019, €2.67 million in funding was approved for this project, yet only €622,336 has been drawn down, leaving €2,052,889 unspent.
The council says the project is finally approaching tender, with design work nearing completion and draft tender documents prepared. It intends to issue the works tender in the coming weeks.
Approval from the Department of Rural and Community Development to proceed to tender was not received until late 2025, six years after the project was first approved in principle.
During that period, the project’s scope was significantly altered. Originally conceived as a broader public‑realm enhancement for the town, the scheme has been scaled back to focus on the centre of the main square, after construction inflation pushed projected costs beyond the available budget.
The council sought additional RRDF funding “a number of years ago”, but this request was refused, forcing a redesign and a narrowing of ambition. The revised project is now expected to be completed in 2028, almost a decade after its initial approval.
The second unspent allocation, €102,344 from 2020, relates to the Placemaking for Newtownmountkennedy project.
The council confirms that the project is complete, but a key element, the purchase of lands, did not proceed.
The project received €357,750 in RRDF funding, of which €255,406 has been drawn down. The remaining balance will not be spent.
The council explains that the value of the lands identified for acquisition far outweighed available funding, leaving no viable path to complete that component.
The council says the unspent allocation is not at risk of clawback, but it will remain undrawn. In practical terms, this means they cannot spend it as it is tied to this project.
Wicklow County Council director of services and Wicklow Municipal District manager Brian Gleeson with Cathaoirleach of Wicklow Municipal District, Cllr Graham Richmond, Cllr Shane Langrell and Cllr Danny Alvey, representatives from the Newtownmountkennedy Town Team, Wicklow MD district engineer Pat Clarke, Garda Derek Kelly, the Wicklow County Council Town Regeneration Team, ACT consultant Kevin Loftus and National Town Centre First co-ordinator, Mairead Hunt. Photo: Michael Kelly
The third unspent allocation, €1,034,704 from 2022, concerns the Blueprint for Blessington project. No funding has been drawn down to date.
As with Newtownmountkennedy, the project encountered difficulties with land acquisition.
The council confirms that the lands earmarked for purchase were found to cost in excess of the funding available, forcing a change in scope.
Some planned work has since been delivered under Town Centre First funding instead.
The council acknowledges that the land purchase element is no longer viable and that discussions with the Department are ongoing regarding the future of the allocation. While the council says the funding is not currently at risk of withdrawal, the project’s direction remains uncertain.
Across the country, many councils have substantial unspent funding from 2022, reflecting the normal lag between approval and drawdown.
Tipperary’s €25.8 million, Cork’s €16.9 million and Donegal’s €6.29 million are all examples of large 2022 allocations that remain undrawn but are associated with projects progressing through design or procurement.
Wicklow’s €1.03 million from 2022 is modest by comparison, but the circumstances surrounding it are more unusual.
While other counties’ 2022 projects are advancing, Wicklow’s Blessington blueprint has stalled because the land acquisition at its core proved unaffordable.
In this respect, Wicklow differs from counties where 2022 allocations remain unspent simply because the projects are still in early stages; in Wicklow’s case, the project has encountered a structural obstacle that may require redesign or re‑approval.
Another way to compare performance is to look at the distribution of unspent funding across years. In counties with strong delivery pipelines, the bulk of unspent allocations cluster in the most recent years, 2023, 2024 and 2025, reflecting the natural rhythm of multi‑year capital projects.
In Wicklow, the opposite is true. The majority of its unspent funding is tied to older approvals, particularly 2019. This suggests slower progression through the project lifecycle than in counties where older allocations have already been substantially drawn down. It is also notable that Wicklow’s unspent allocations are spread across only three projects.
In some counties, large unspent totals are the result of multiple projects at various stages of delivery, creating a diversified pipeline where delays in one scheme are offset by progress in others.
Wicklow’s situation is more concentrated. The Baltinglass delay alone accounts for nearly two‑thirds of the county’s total unspent RRDF funding.
Many councils have struggled with the same pressures: construction inflation, land‑value spikes, planning delays and the complexity of delivering multi‑million‑euro projects in small towns.