Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 April 2022
69. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of measures concluded in the Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025 document since it was launched in March 2021. [17872/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraOur Rural Future 2021-2025, is the most ambitious rural development policy for Ireland in decades, and contains more than 150 measures across the whole of Government, for both short-term recovery and longer-term development.
Updates on its implementation are provided by a series of Progress Reports. In addition, annual work programmes are published, which will allow for priorities to be updated in light of emerging opportunities and challenges. Within these work programmes, the 150 overarching measures in the Policy have been broken down into individual actions for delivery.
The First Progress Report, which was published in February, provides updates on a total of 216 actions contained in the 2021 work programme for delivery right across Government. It should be noted that significant progress has been made to date across actions and implementation is ongoing. In terms of completion, just under 80% of actions to be carried out by the end of 2021 were completed by end year.
A new work programme for 2022 is currently being finalised in conjunction with Departments and I expect to publish this shortly. However, I can say that it will demonstrate continued commitment to realising the ambitions of Our Rural Future, including the development of some new actions under the policy.
Many of the 2022 actions are already underway, and updates on these will be provided in further Progress Reports to be produced every six months, as per the commitment in the Policy.
I am committed to ensuring that the momentum we have established in the first year of Our Rural Future is maintained, and that we can continue to deliver on the Government's commitment to and vision for rural Ireland.
