In July of this year, Ann Phelan, T.D. was appointed as Minister of State with specific responsibility for implementation of the CEDRA report. CEDRA is a broad multisectoral report containing 34 recommendations on actions to be taken on areas as diverse as investment and finance, local enterprise support, community capability building, social enterprise, broadband, roads, water, rural transport, artisan foods, creative industries, tourism & recreation, marine and renewable energy. As its effective implementation requires an integrated response from a wide variety of agencies, Minister Phelan has established a high level Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) involving all the main departmental actors dealing with the CEDRA recommendations. To date there have been three meetings of this group.
All 34 CEDRA recommendations are being progressed, with lead responsibility for each action assigned in accordance with statutory responsibility. In addition, Minister Phelan is in the process of identifying a number of priority proposals to support the economic development of rural communities. Work on these proposals is progressing well but is not yet finalised.