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Departmental Strategies

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2021

Tuesday, 7 December 2021

Questions (72, 92)

Claire Kerrane

Question:

72. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when a six-month progress report on the implementation of Our Rural Strategy will be available considering the commitment to provide same as set out in the strategy and her advice that the report would be available before the end of 2021; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60144/21]

View answer

Claire Kerrane

Question:

92. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the 2022 Work Programme for Our Rural Strategy will be made available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60145/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 72 and 92 together.

‘Our Rural Future – Rural Development Policy 2021-2025’ is the most ambitious development policy for rural Ireland in decades.

It was published on 29 March and contains more than 150 commitments across the whole-of-Government, for both short-term recovery and longer-term development.

Updates on the delivery of the 5-year Policy will be provided by a series of Progress Reports. Annual work programmes allow for priorities to be updated in light of emerging opportunities and challenges.

My Department is currently drafting the First Progress Report, which will incorporate updates on all measures contained in the 2021 Work Programme. It will be published following approval by Cabinet early in 2022. Further Progress Reports will be produced every six months thereafter, as per the commitment in the Policy.

The 2021 Work Programme is highly ambitious, containing actions which advance the delivery of more than 80 per cent of commitments in the Policy in Year 1. A huge amount of activity has taken place across Departments this year to deliver on the ambition of Our Rural Future, with investment in local transport and active travel, remote working facilities and digital connectivity, and huge levels of support for important projects under my Department’s Rural Development Investment Programme to name but a few.

In shaping the new 2022 Work Programme, my Department is continuing to consult widely.

A series of three Rural Ideas Fora and the first ever Rural Youth Assembly were recently held, and my Department is currently engaging in bilateral discussions with Departments across Government. These engagements will help to inform the new Work Programme, which I anticipate will be published in early 2022.

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