Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 February 2023
1. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the development of a rural proofing mechanism, as outlined in Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8768/23]
View answerI am asking for an update on the development of a rural proofing mechanism, as promised in Our Rural Future.
Before we begin proceedings, I wish to send my thoughts and prayers to Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, the police officer shot in Omagh last night. A decent man, he was volunteering and training young children at sport, as happens in every community, North and South. He was off duty when he was shot down in front of his son. When he was on the ground, he was shot again. I condemn the cowards, as I know everyone in the House does, who carried out this reprehensible and heinous act. I implore anyone who has information to come forward so that the perpetrators face the full rigour of the law.
I thank Deputy Kerrane for her question. Our Rural Future is the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural development in decades. It commits to developing an effective rural proofing model to ensure that all Departments fully consider the effects of significant new proposals on rural communities and better target the particular challenges and opportunities facing them. In order to progress this matter, my officials commissioned a report on rural proofing, which is now available on my Department's website. The report sets out the policy context for rural proofing and examines the experience of implementing various approaches to rural proofing in a number of other countries. The international evidence is clear, in that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to rural proofing that can be quickly and successfully implemented.
In light of this, my Department has commenced engagement on a pilot basis with key Departments to identify the best approach in the Irish context. Last year, my officials engaged directly with all relevant Departments as regards rural proofing as part of their ongoing discussions on the implementation of Our Rural Future. They have since engaged in greater detail with colleagues in the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media on the development of the new sustainable tourism policy. Similarly, work is under way on the development of the new national hubs strategy, with the incorporation of the rural perspective a key part of its development.
It is good that progress is being made. It needs to happen as quickly as possible. Every time I raise the need for rural proofing, the prime example I give of its necessity is the west and north-west region. Further data from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, show that the gap in disposable income between the region and the State average is widening and is now €3,973. Ireland has worsened to the point where we now have a medium-sized regional inequality in line with Greece, Portugal and Croatia. This is a serious issue. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has stated that we need a sizable regional stimulus package for the region's economy. This needs to come hand in hand with a rural proofing mechanism.
We need to turn the tide for the west and north west. The region is regressing rapidly. The mechanism will play a part in addressing the issue, but we also need to examine the region itself.
The development of a rural proofing model is a key commitment in Our Rural Future. In conjunction with other Departments, the work on it is progressing well. We have identified the areas we want to focus on as part of a pilot, including sustainable tourism, which has a significant impact on rural economies. We have also launched the national outdoor recreational strategy, which will have major economic benefits. One need only consider the benefits of the Limerick greenway and the mountain biking trail in Kinnitty. The national planning framework is another major influence on balanced regional development, rural housing etc.
I launched Connected Hubs, through which there are 300 remote working hubs nationwide. We are working a great deal with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Enterprise Ireland and the Industrial Development Agency, IDA, on promoting the hubs as landing spaces for multinationals. There is a great example of this in my area of Cavan - PublicRelay is a multinational that rented an entire floor in Cavan's digital hub and is employing 25 staff.
A great deal of work is going on in this space.
That is key. We need to see high-value jobs and the closing of the growing gap in average disposable incomes between the west and north-west region and the rest of the State. We need to see what the Northern and Western Regional Assembly has called for repeatedly, namely, positive discrimination. We need to see major investment in infrastructure in the west and north west if we are to turn the situation around. The region has already been downgraded not once, but twice. It is now a lagging region, which is serious and should set alarm bells ringing. The rural proofing mechanism needs to be in place, but it is also important that we meet the assembly's request for major investment in the west and north west.
I do not have all of the figures to hand, but there has been unprecedented investment in the north and west. Like the Deputy, I am familiar with the region, given that we both live there.
We have worked with Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. For example, there is a good remote working hub called the Spool Factory in Boyle, County Roscommon. I have spoken to its management a few times. People who are coming home to Ireland on holidays are able to stay for much longer because they can use its remote working facilities. We need to wrap initiatives like this up as part of our offering to get more people back into rural Ireland. It has been successful in Boyle, and I would like to see it replicated in other areas.
There has been a great deal of investment. I want to see that continue. This year, there is a strong budget line for all of the programmes. I hope to open the calls for them in the next few months.
