I am pleased that the Seanad has agreed to discuss the White Paper on Rural Development today. This debate comes at a time when rural development is high on the political agenda. Infrastructural changes, including new information superhighways, new roads and improved rail transport will provide enhanced opportunities throughout rural Ireland. Rural development is now also an academic discipline, with new courses and even a new rural development institute, giving a clearer understanding and focus to rural development. The increased emphasis on encouraging investment in areas outside Dublin, coupled with an increase in housing provision and the proposed decentralisation of further public service jobs, reflect the desire to bring new life and new hope to rural Ireland.
The rural development policy agenda is defined in the White Paper as all Government policies and interventions which are directed towards improving the physical, economic and social conditions of people living in the open countryside, in coastal areas, towns and villages and in smaller urban centres outside of the five major urban areas. The agenda will, at the same time, facilitate balanced and sustainable regional development while tackling issues of poverty and social inclusion.
One of the Government's main concerns when drafting the White Paper was to diversify economically and to provide additional income and job creation opportunities in rural areas while cherishing the distinct features and culture of the countryside. We must exploit our natural advantages and potential to the full in the creation of more opportunities for enterprise both on and off farm while also maintaining viable rural communities.
The overall strategy decided by Government provides for balanced regional development to ensure that the benefits of economic and social progress are distributed throughout rural areas, investment in services and infrastructure, sustainable economic development, human resources development, and a determined focus on poverty and social exclusion. There are also commitments to the preservation of the culture and heritage of rural areas, including Gaeltacht areas, and to protecting the environment.
The success of the Government's strategy for rural development depends significantly on the extent to which the institutional arrangements support the process. Rather than creating further structures which might lead to overlap or duplication of effort, the intention is to integrate and better co-ordinate the activities of existing structures and so improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public service to rural communities.
A number of the promised institutional arrangements have been put in place. The name of my Department has been changed to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to reflect its lead role in rural development. A Cabinet sub-committee chaired by the Taoiseach has been established, as well as an interdepartmental policy committee. The rural development fund, also promised in the White Paper, has been provided for in the national development plan with an allocation of some £6 million. The fund will finance research, evaluations and pilot actions, where appropriate, to provide information and advice to policy makers. The research should provide critical feedback in relation to such issues as assessing the impact and effectiveness of sectoral policies and institutional arrangements, quantifying and gathering data on trends and issues impacting on the rural community, identifying income and employment opportunities, and examining gender and other issues relating to rural inclusion. A provision of £900,000 has been made in this year's Estimates to support projects from the fund.
An essential element of our strategy is the commitment to establish a national rural development forum. The forum will debate current issues, review existing programmes to determine their impact and identify suitable policy responses to rural problems. It will have a wide membership including Departments, State agencies, regional assemblies and authorities, local authorities, the social partners, local development bodies and the wider voluntary and community sector. In response to my invitation, nominations have been received from almost all of the representative groups. Several groups have provided topics which they feel should be discussed at the forum. I expect that the inaugural meeting of the forum will take place in the next month or so.
Procedures for the rural proofing of all national policies have been introduced. In bringing forward proposals for Government approval, Ministers are now obliged to indicate the extent to which those proposals are likely to impact on the physical, economic and social conditions of the rural population. This will ensure that policy implementation responds appropriately to the needs of rural communities. The effect should be that strategy for economic and social development of rural areas works in conjunction with other policy initiatives such as the national anti-poverty strategy. Detailed guidelines to underpin this initiative are being prepared by my Department.
The national development plan was prepared on the basis of the requirement for rural proofing. The chapters dealing with the various operational programmes include sections on the rural impact of the proposals they contain.
The Government decided that the White Paper would be published in August 1999 so that the general commitments in it could be reflected in the preparation of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. The plan is the vehicle for delivering the commitments in the White Paper. There is a specific chapter on agriculture and rural development with a commitment to public investment of £6.7 billion over the next seven years in actions which directly impact on rural areas. This package involves £3.4 billion on REPS, early retirement, headage and forestry, £2.1 billion on rural infrastructure, £390 million on rural enterprises including western development, £377 million on capital investment for food and fisheries and for marketing, research and development for agriculture, food and fisheries, £322 million on agriculture and fisheries development and £120 million on training in agriculture, food, forestry and fisheries. In addition, rural communities will also benefit from the investments proposed in other areas of the plan. Employment and human resource development will receive £11 billion, national roads will receive £4.7 billion, housing will receive £6 billion, health will receive £2 billion and regional public transport will receive £0.6 billion. A sum of £1.1 billion is provided in the plan to support indigenous industry and small, medium and micro-sized enterprises. While all areas of the country will benefit from this provision, it will be of considerable assistance to rural areas.
The county development boards, now being established following the Government's decision to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on the Integration of Local Government and Local Development Systems, will make a key contribution to the integration of policies at county level. This will be achieved through the preparation of county strategies in consultation with, and with the participation of, local authorities, State agencies, Departments, local development bodies and the social partners, including the voluntary and community sector.
The county development boards will be an essential element in articulating and implementing the proposals in the White Paper. I am pleased and proud to say that South Tipperary County Development Board was the first board to be established in early January. These new arrangements will provide the opportunity to identify and prioritise local needs in a partnership approach between service providers and the local community. The outcome should be that quality, comprehensive State services will be available in rural areas.
The Leader programmes have been one of the most important developments in rural Ireland in recent years. Under the current programme, Leader II, there are 34 local action groups operating throughout the country and three sectoral bodies were approved to implement their business plans with total funding of almost £95 million. This programme has had a tremendous impact on rural development by providing the means and, crucially, the funding to allow local groups to identify needs and opportunities in their own areas and to respond to the situation to the best effect.
The success of the Leader II programme is reflected in the national development plan which is providing funding of around £110 million to support Leader type activity over the next six years. A sum of £35.4 million of this is to be provided by the EU in respect of the new Leader programme and will be called Leader+. The balance will come from the national Exchequer and will comprise national co-funding for Leader+ as well as support for a mainstream Leader type measure.
The European Commission is currently finalising the draft guidelines for Leader+. Based on these guidelines we will draw up the operational programme for Leader+ in Ireland. This will then be sent to the Commission for approval with a view to commencing Leader+ as soon as possible. The Commission will subject the programme to detailed examination to ensure that it meets the required standard for approval. This process will take a period of months. As with other measures provided for in the national development plan, it is also necessary to enable commencement of arrangements for the establishment of Leader programme mainstream activities.
Pending EU clearance for Leader+ and the Leader programme mainstream measures under the national development plan, it is not possible to define the precise arrangements for delivery. It is clear, however, that the Commission's intention is that funding for Leader+ will be confined to a limited number of rural areas and that the essential aim of the Leader+ measures will be to encourage the emergence and testing of new approaches to integrated and sustainable development.
The report of the Task Force on the Integration of Local Government and Local Development Systems requires that attention be given to the avoidance of overlap between agencies, including Leader programme groups. This will involve exploring mechanisms which will be capable of combining rural development and rural partnership activities in rural disadvantaged areas specifically. I am aware of the importance of continuity in the delivery of Leader+ and Leader type rural development programmes. It is clear that the work done by the local action groups under the first and second Leader programmes has significantly benefited local communities throughout the country and I am ensuring that every effort is being made to commence the two new Leader measures as quickly as possible.
The House will be aware that to assist continuity I agreed to provide special funding to Comhar Leader na hÉireann, the representative body for Leader programme groups, which will keep the organisation in operation pending the implementation of the new Leader measures. The Department will liaise closely with Comhar Leader na hÉireann in the drawing up and implementation of the new Leader programmes.
I have carefully considered the position in which groups will find themselves when the current programme finishes during the year and I have managed to secure funding for their administrative expenses for the period from 1 July to 31 December 2000 pending the implementation of the new Leader scenario. This will enable the maintenance of expertise in the areas and assist continuity of Leader programme operations. I must emphasis that the funding will be provided without prejudice to the award of contracts under the new programmes and will only be provided to groups who demonstrate a need for funding on the basis of a clear plan.
The strategy set out in the White Paper endorses and supports the objectives contained in the national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS, and will ensure that the overall strategy for rural development is underpinned by a socially inclusive dimension. It acknowledges that Government intervention is required to ensure balanced regional development and to provide a particular focus on addressing social inclusion needs. In the rural context, social exclusion manifests itself in ways that reflect the distinct features of rural life, especially in more remote areas. It is frequently the result of multiple disadvantage. Economic factors like unemployment or inadequate incomes together with wider social issues of isolation, unequal opportunity and participation are often compounded by further problems of distance from services and amenities.
In addressing rural poverty the target of the NAPS is to ensure that strategies are developed with regard to the provision of services in rural areas, especially those concerned with educational disadvantage, unemployment and income adequacy. The overall target is to reduce the numbers of those who are consistently poor from between 9 per cent and 15 per cent of the population to less than between 5 per cent and 10 per cent, as measured by the ESRI. The most recent data available in the ESRI's Living in Ireland survey shows that the numbers experiencing consistent poverty fell to between 7 per cent and 10 per cent of the population by 1997. In the light of this progress, the Government has set a target to reduce consistent poverty to below 5 per cent by 2004.
I am pleased that the White Paper on Rural Development has been so well received. In the recent NESC report, Opportunities, Challenges and Capacities for Choice, the council welcomes the broad approach to rural development adopted in the White Paper. It represents a new vision for rural Ireland. The structures for co-ordinating it are in place and funding has been provided to implement it. I am confident that, thanks to the Government's strategy outlined in the White Paper, the next few years will see a regeneration of rural Ireland.