Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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57. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the amount of funding drawn down from the rural regeneration and development fund in each month since she took office. [19222/23]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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110. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the rural regeneration and development fund, including a list of all projects scheduled for completion in 2023, by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19148/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I have to inject some level of reality into this debate today. Rural Ireland is on its knees.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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It is suffering significant population decline, predominantly concentrated in the west and midlands of Ireland. That continues apace. It is calculated that in the last 40 years, 800 electoral divisions have lost population or significantly lost population. There has been a lopsided spatial policy which has put hundreds of thousands of young people into the Dublin area, in particular. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures state that there is increasing income inequality between the western regions, the north-western regions and the rest of the State. When will this Government's policy become more than social welfare for rural Ireland?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 110 together.

The rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, provides funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns, villages and rural areas across Ireland. The fund is central to achieving the objectives and key deliverables of Our Rural Future, the Government's five-year policy for rural Ireland. At the heart of Our Rural Future is a commitment to revitalising towns and villages across rural Ireland, making them more attractive places to live, work and raise a family. The projects supported by the fund assist in the regeneration of rural towns and villages by addressing vacancy and dereliction and positioning them for further growth through regeneration and town centre renewal. The fund also invests in strategic projects that contribute to further economic development in rural areas.

Calls for applications to the fund are sought under categories 1 and 2. Category 1 relates to large-scale ambitious capital projects with all necessary planning and other consents in place, which are ready to proceed. Category 2 provides smaller grant funding to enable the development of project proposals suitable for future calls for category 1 applications. Since the RRDF was established in 2018, funding of €395 million has been approved for 215 projects. When matching funding is included, the total value of these projects is worth over €542 million. Since my appointment as Minister for Rural and Community Development in June 2020, funding of over €100 million has been drawn down from the fund. A table setting out the monthly drawdowns since June 2020 has been attached as an appendix to this response.

The delivery of projects funded under the RRDF experienced significant delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, I am pleased to confirm that stronger progress is now being achieved. Thirty projects are complete. In addition, a further 81 projects are expected to be completed by the end of the year. A list of projects in each county scheduled to be completed in 2023 is attached to this response as an appendix for the information of the Deputies. I remain committed to ensuring that this vital funding can deliver real and transformative change in towns across rural Ireland. Underlying this is the need to ensure delivery on the ground. To this end, I have outlined to local authorities the priority that I assign to the delivery of these projects. I have asked my officials to ensure there is an ongoing process of engagement with local authorities.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I do not think the Minister is getting to the nub of the question at all. The issue is that the EU has downgraded the north-west region as a lagging region. The EU has said that as a result of falling GDP per capitain those areas compared with the rest of the country, places like Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo, Donegal, Monaghan and Mayo face increasing challenges. That is happening under the Minister's watch. GDP is falling in these areas, which is damning. The gap between the north and west region and the national average is now estimated to be three times higher than it was a decade ago. What I mean by social welfare for rural Ireland is that the current approach is not fixing the problem. It is handing out money here and there but it is not getting to the core issue. I know of many people who tell me that kids want to live in those areas but cannot get planning permission. What happens is that schools and services start to close. I know farmers are leaving the land because prices are too low to be able to raise families in these locations.

The EU has said that underinvestment in key infrastructure is leading to regional inequality. These areas want good transport infrastructure, communications infrastructure, education facilities and telecommunication facilities so that they can do business. That is still missing from the Government's plans.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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First of all, I want to say that Deputy Tóibín should come down to Mayo tomorrow. We have a €300 million investment, which is the biggest single investment. The road between Westport and Castlebar will open tomorrow. Allergan, Baxter and Coca-Cola are all crying out for people for their workforces. I meet principals of schools from every corner of the county. All these areas are expanding. I disagree with Deputy Tóibín. The great line from the Opposition is always that the west has been left behind. There have never been as many people working and living in rural Ireland as there are now. It is time that we spoke up. The kind of stuff that has been done by the Department of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, over the last number of years has been fantastic for towns and villages. The rural regeneration scheme is fantastic.

I want to ask the Minister a question. I compliment State agencies such as Údarás na Gaeltachta. When I was Minister, and the Minister has continued this, it set up the Gteic facilities, with jobs in counties Galway, Kerry, Waterford and Mayo. I am asking the Minister if she could talk to more State agencies and LEADER companies because some local authorities are not actually standing up to the plate. Projects and money are being allocated by the Minister's Department and these projects are not being delivered. It is not through the fault of the Minister or the Department but because some of these people are not doing their jobs. I ask the Minister to look at other State agencies that could carry out some of these works and maybe allocate the funding through them rather than always to local authorities.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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To clarify something, there has been no downgrading of the north and western region by the European Commission from being a region in transition. This 2018 designation is based on GDP per capitain the region and has been used to calculate European funding allocations for 2021 to 2027. Separately, the European Parliament's committee on regional development categorised the north and west region as a lagging region using a range of other data such as productivity, education and skills. They are two completely different, separate things.

I agree with Deputy Ring. Sometimes projects are not delivered as quickly as we would like. We engage with local authorities. We have constant contact with them. We were in touch with them again last week. A new LEADER programme is coming out, which is currently open for expressions of interest. Proposals will come in in due course. Deputy Ring is right. I know Deputy Tóibín is a one-man band in here but he is a party leader.

He needs to get out and go around the country. If he went to County Mayo, he would see the Air Dome, which is some place. It is outside Claremorris and Deputy Ring knows it well. That was funded under the rural regeneration scheme. It is a fantastic project. Deputy Tóibín would be very welcome to come to Bailieborough where his party has a councillor. She will show him some of the wonderful investments that have happened in Bailieborough, particularly in the renovation of the old courthouse.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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If I represented a county that was downgraded to a lagging area by the EU, I would be furious with the approach the Government is involved in.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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No, it is not. That is misinformation.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The second issue is the average age now in many towns and villages along the west coast is ten years older than it is in towns such as Ballbriggan, Naas and Navan. The reason is young people in this State, on average, who go to university and get university jobs cannot get jobs in the regions. They try to get jobs in Dublin but cannot afford to live there and so are forced to live 20, 30, 40 or 50 miles away and commute on a daily basis. That is the reality people are living with.

You would not know it from this debate, but there is a swell of anger in rural and regional Ireland at present as regards what is happening to the country. I agree with Deputy Stanton in respect of the fairness of the funding. Cavan-Monaghan got 10% of the local improvement scheme for 2022-----

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Plus they said they could not spend it.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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-----even though it accounts for 2.5% of the population.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Meath could not spend it.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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While it might suit the narrative for our local constituents to be able to say that, the truth of the matter is every county should be getting a fair shot at it. Strangely, Dublin got investment for 63 rural hubs through Our Rural Future, even though the likes of Mayo and other counties get far less. That is a strange question as well.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I disagree with Deputy Tóibín. He does not have his facts right. Sporting organisations in towns such as Ballina, Castlebar and Westport are not able to provide the infrastructure because so many people are coming back from the cities, and England, America and Australia, to live in County Mayo. It is a fantastic county. If the Deputy saw last week what we did in Ballina, we made Mayo and Ireland proud. We showed what could be done. The people did that.

Deputy Tóibín talked about funding. When I was Minister, I heard the same kind of thing from members of the Opposition, which was that this or that county did not get funding. It was very simple. It was because some of their local authorities were not applying for funding and were not making the application. I remember getting attacked-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Is it a coincidence that the two last Ministers-----

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----about west Cork getting funding-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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-----always get the most money?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----when it had no application in and we could not give it funding.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Is it a coincidence? You know it is not.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is doing a fantastic job. Rural Ireland is alive and well and people like Deputy Tóibín will not talk it down.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Everybody-----

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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He will not talk it down with his one-horse band.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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You are shouting me down now. Every Deputy is smiling-----

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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He will not talk it down with his one-horse band.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Every Deputy is smiling at the fact-----

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Please, can we have some bit of decorum in the House?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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-----that the two Ministers get more money for their counties rather regularly.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In fairness, the funding was not there to deliver these projects in the past. We now have the rural regeneration fund. When Deputy Ring was Minister, he set up that fund. He fought for €1 billion. I can honestly tell Deputy Tóibín that he fought for it because I watched him and he did a good job.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I think he should be Minister now.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is a €1 billion fund.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Why is he not a Minister any more?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Tóibín would want to get up now and go around the country, even around County Meath where he lives. I am going there in the next few weeks. There is a new library and cultural centre in Trim.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I fought for it.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There is a new community hub in Enfield and many remote working hubs that allow people to live and work in their communities. Deputy English is a big supporter of those projects. I will visit them shortly. They are making a difference. I am going around rural areas and talking to people. I can tell the Deputy that if he had been with me in Abbeyshrule, County Longford, last week, he would have seen how appreciative communities are that we are providing funding to allow them realise their vision and ambition for their communities. We are empowering and helping communities. It is not a top-down but bottom-up approach. When we get the applications, we work with communities to deliver.

On a point of clarification regarding the local improvement schemes, additional funding was given to local authorities that stated they could spend it. If they asked for it in the last round, they got 70% or 80% of what they asked for. If counties Monaghan and Cavan can spend it, all I can say is fair play to them.