Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the sense that people live in the countryside but they come into the towns and villages to get employment, to do their shopping and so on. The focus of the town and village enhancement scheme is on communities and economic clusters. It is about the hinterland as well. It is not just about the actual towns or villages. It is about coming up with projects - which may or may not be located in the towns or villages - that will benefit the whole community. We have the town and village enhancement programme, the rural recreation programme and the CLÁR programme. The latter is helping schools out in the middle of the countryside. We have schemes that involve projects that are located outside rural towns and villages. The focus is on the bigger picture and the focus is economic.

A lot has happened under the action plan for rural development. As the Deputy knows, there are 276 actions listed in that action plan. A lot of things have already happened in rural Ireland but some people do not want to acknowledge that. One often hears radio reports and reads in the newspapers that rural Ireland is dying but that is the wrong message to send out. Deputy Ó Cuív knows, and I know, that there is lots of enthusiasm, commitment and strength in rural communities. That is what this is about - building on those strengths and helping people to come up with ideas for projects that will improve their communities.