Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 October 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development

Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42- Department of Rural and Community Development

10:30 am

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, the Minister of State and officials. Last week the Minister of State was sitting on this side of the table. I congratulate him on his appointment. It is an excellent one, as he brings great understanding of the challenges facing rural Ireland. I wish him well in his brief.

Although it has been mentioned that rural Ireland faces challenges, I have always been one who sees the glass as half full. There are considerable opportunities for rural Ireland. The Minister outlined in a general way the capital and current funding being made available to support rural communities across Ireland. It excites me. While we hear much criticism, the Minister mentioned a number of schemes, including the community enhancement programme, library investment and the walks and outdoor recreational infrastructure schemes. We cannot underestimate the value of such schemes to communities in giving them the capacity to exploit the potential of their towns, villages and rural areas. That is not even to mention the town and village renewal scheme or the CLÁR programme.

I welcome how the Minister started a pilot programme last week for vacant buildings in villages and towns. He included in their number Cappoquin in west County Waterford which I will use as an example, as I know it well. It was once a thriving village. It was the base of Cappoquin Chickens and there was considerable industry in it, but over many decades it failed. We have seen the decay on the streets. A former councillor, Ms Nora Flynn, who is a great advocate for rural Ireland has always pointed out that, unless we breathe new life into towns and villages and get young families back on their streets, these areas will continue to decay. For the first time, last week the Minister recognised this when he established the pilot scheme. It will build on the likes of the town and village renewal scheme, the CLÁR programme and many other schemes. We will begin to see real progress in collaborating with communities in delivering regeneration on the streets.

The Minister might elaborate on a number of issues. He has provided substantial funding - €315 million in the next three years - for the rural regeneration fund. He referred to "ambitious projects," but I have a concern. While I do not doubt that he and his officials have ambition, as they have proved by providing and ring-fencing this capital funding for ambitious projects, communities might not have the capacity and local authorities, LEADER groups and so on might not have the same level of ambition that he has. He mentioned that more than 270 or 280 applications had been received for the rural regeneration fund. That is welcome, but I would like to gain an understanding of the quality of those applications. We probably will not gain it until November when he announces the first round of allocations. I hope the applications' quality meets the level of ambition he has set. As policy makers, Deputies, Senators and local councillors can play a role in communicating his objective of lifting communities. I hope the applications are strong and have not been rushed.

I hope also that there will be deep engagement with communities and that none of them will be left behind. As the Minister and his officials will know, the ones that are most successful are the ones that understand the process well and have sufficient capacity, but the ones with the greatest need do not have the capacity to draft an application and engage with agencies. What is being done to address such deficits? It is often those who need a leg up that are left on the margins. The Minister does not want that to happen and the committee wants to assist him in ensuring such communities will have the same access to funding as those that will be first up, best dressed and used to drawing down funding. It is an ongoing concern of mine that we should maximise communities' integration into and access to schemes. Various officials at every level face a major challenge. I remind those in the Department that, if an application is weak because a community has not had the capacity to make it stronger, it should not just be thrown onto the scrapheap. Officials should recognise that the community may need more help. An analysis or evaluation of failed or "lesser" applications should be conducted so as to ensure those communities can be built up through deeper engagement.

I hope I am putting it across to the Minister in the right way that we need to help those communities more than the ones that are probably the best. I am probably contradicting myself in a way.

What can be done to improve access for the communities? How we can assist them? How we can prevent the duplication of the work of many of the agencies on the ground? Representatives of some of the agencies were before the committee last week. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, was in attendance. The agencies, which are excellent and whose umbrella body is Pobal, are delivering on the ground. I asked the agency representatives whether the agencies are competing with one another for clients and customers in the various communities throughout the country. We need a targeted approach to prevent duplication. This means spreading the resources and the funding. The Minister referred to substantial current funding of €135 million or €140 million in 2018. That is to be paid to all the officials and agencies that are meant to assist the communities. I want to see the agencies spending the money efficiently and not duplicating the work of similar agencies. The money should be targeting those who are most disadvantaged in rural areas.

The Minister has done a fabulous job in the previous budget in ring-fencing substantial funds and in having, for the first time, rolling annual funds for the period 2019 to 2022 and beyond. This allows communities to plan. Communities will not have to ask whether there will be a fund next year or whether they will be putting in the effort now on a voluntary basis only to find there is no funding in a year or two. The message has now gone out quite clearly to rural areas that the funding is there to stay over a number of years. It is a question of getting our act together, taking on the good projects and realising the ambition we all have regarding the good living of rural Ireland. The Minister and his Department are to be commended on putting the funding in place. The Minister has rural areas at heart and he deserves the support of politicians and communities in delivering. The real benchmark will be how well we will deliver in an efficient way that can make the difference the Minister wants to see in the communities.

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