Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing the Minister of State's opening statement as I was in the Seanad, although I received a copy of it. I will not go over the ground that has been covered already but there are a number of specific issues on rural proofing. Could the Minister of State tell us a little more about what she sees as rural proofing? She stated that IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are doing rural proofing of policy. Are there metrics or guidelines for that? What exactly does the Minister of State mean by rural proofing because I asked questions of the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, on targets for rural employment and he told me that there were not any such targets. I want to find out if it means laying out certain targets. Does it mean, if they are developing policy, that they have to send it to the Minister of State in advance to have it rural proofed and checked by her officials? What are the metrics for rural proofing? I agree rural proofing is a good idea and needs to be done. It is also probably something that needs to be done by Departments as well. Does the Minister of State have any plans to ask her colleagues in Cabinet to rural proof legislation so that any legislation being brought forward would have to be run by her Department and proofed to see what the impact will be on rural areas?

On Leader funding, how much will be made available to communities this year? The Minister of State gave us a broad figure over the number of years, but what will be rolled out this year for Leader funding? Will the Minister of State take a specific look at the islands which are in a peculiar situation? They always have been run under one Leader company. The current scenario, where they are being asked to go under four different local authorities, is not practical and will not work. Is she willing to take on board the case they have made that they need to be given a specific allocation under the Leader programme?

The terminology around SICAP seems to be towards activation and job creation, etc. In its former guise, the SICAP was the LCDP and, before that, the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme, LDSIP. It was much more to do with social issues and supporting groups, such as the elderly, women, those with disabilities and those who were disadvantaged either from an educational or a geographic perspective. I wonder whether, under the new SICAP, that will be taken on board. The SICAP is probably more important to those target groups than job creation. Job creation is obviously important in rural areas but those groups have been left out.

In the previous programmes, much of the weighting in the way funding was given was based on the deprivation index, which was the Trutz Haase index, and also on the dependency ratios in each of the areas. Are such models to be used for SICAP this time around so that those with the greatest need in rural areas will avail of the funding?

The issue of accessibility is significant. It has been touched on. I appreciate it is not in the Minister of State's direct remit. How will she work with the Departments of Health, Transport, Tourism and Sport, Social Protection, Education and Skills, and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to ensure access to services? How does the working group plan that? How often does it meet and what guidelines and protocols are put in place between the Minister of State and those Department?

I note the rural recreation and the walks, but I hear there is considerable opposition from landowners to the plan in train as regards rural recreation. I wonder if the Minister of State has any comments on that?