Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 April 2019
503. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the progress made on the implementation of the Action Plan for Rural Development to date; and when the next progress report will issue. [15482/19]
View answerProgress Reports on the implementation of the Action Plan for Rural Development are published twice a year on my Department's website, www.drcd.gov.ie. The most recent, Third Progress Report, was published in November 2018 and outlines the progress which took place in relation to all actions due for delivery between January and June 2018, or which are being implemented on an ongoing basis over the course of the three-year Action Plan.
Of the 275 actions reported on in the Third Progress Report, 266 had been completed or were substantially advanced. A number of case studies also feature in the report, which illustrate the positive impact the actions being delivered are having on rural communities.
The co-ordinated, whole-of Government approach of the Action Plan is achieving benefits in terms of increased employment in the regions and increased investment in projects and communities across the country. Since 2015, there has been an increase of 146,400 in numbers employed in regions outside of Dublin, surpassing the Government’s target of 135,000 by 2020. There has also been significant investment in towns, villages and communities right across the country, with thousands of projects, large and small, benefiting from support from my Department and from other Government Departments.
My Department is currently finalising the Fourth Progress Report on the Action Plan for Rural Development, which will report on the delivery of measures in the second half of 2018. This report will be published in the current calendar quarter, following its consideration by the Monitoring Committee for the Action Plan.
The Action Plan for Rural Development runs to the end of 2019 and consideration is now being given by my Department to the next phase of rural development policy to follow on from the Action Plan. My Department has commenced engagement with stakeholders in relation to some aspects of this policy and further consultation will take place over the coming months through a series of stakeholder workshops throughout the country.
