Maura Hopkins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise as I had to step out for another meeting. My first question concerns Pillar 2 - supporting enterprise and employment. The action plan has a number of key actions in that area. I want to ascertain how closely the new Department works with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in terms of trying to support job creation in rural areas.

There are different challenges within different rural areas. What type of analysis has been done with a view to assisting weaker rural areas? Obviously, we know that parts of rural Ireland are doing quite well but there are other areas that require significant attention and support. I know there are a wide range of actions that feature across all rural areas but we need to support weaker areas. I mean that in the best possible sense. They do need support in terms of how we get five, six, ten or 20 jobs into those areas because without jobs, it is very difficult for families to be able to live there.