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

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to attend here today to discuss the 2021 Further Revised Estimate for the Department of Rural and Community Development. I am seeking approval of this Further Revised Estimate to enable my Department to continue its important work in the areas of rural development, community development and charities regulation.

As we all know, the last 15 months have been incredibly challenging with Government, society and our communities all working together to address the social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our community development schemes have been an important aspect of the Government's response to the pandemic. I want to thank the individuals, volunteers and numerous community and voluntary organisations across the country that have helped our nation to respond to the pandemic. Throughout this period, by working together, we have ensured support for those most in need. The Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, and I are committed to ensuring that our community development schemes continue to support the recovery of our society and communities.

The rural development schemes operated by my Department continue to deliver real and tangible projects in local communities right across the country. Programmes like the town and village renewal scheme, CLÁR, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and LEADER are highly important and are making a real difference. Those schemes are fantastic examples of small amounts of funding making a huge difference. Of course, we also have the rural regeneration and development fund for larger-scale projects. Through the Our Rural Future rural development policy, which the Government launched in March, I am committed to and passionate about ensuring that the recovery from this pandemic is fair and balanced and reaches all parts of our country.

The Department’s functions are delivered across three programme areas, namely, rural development including the islands, community development and charities regulation. Gross expenditure of €351 million is budgeted for in 2021, consisting of €182.4 million in current expenditure and €168.6 million in capital expenditure. In addition, my Department has a capital carry-over of €13.18 million from 2020 into 2021. In terms of the split of gross expenditure across programmes, €178 million is allocated for the rural development and the islands programme. The €13.18 million in capital carry-over is also intended for use in this programme area. A sum of €169 million is allocated for the community development programme and €4.6 million is provided for the Charities Regulatory Authority, CRA.

The €178 million allocated to the rural development programme is made up of €151 million in capital funding and €27 million in current funding. This will support a range of schemes that invest in the economic and social development of rural areas and communities. For 2021, I have allocated €87 million in capital funding for the rural regeneration and development area. A sum of €55 million will be provided for the rural regeneration and development fund,which has now approved funding of €249 million towards 164 projects worth €338 million.

Funding of €20 million will be provided for the town and village renewal scheme and this year will see a particular focus on addressing dereliction in towns. In addition, €5 million of this funding will be used for the connected hubs call that I announced recently. This will focus on supporting the development of remote working hubs across Ireland and will help realise the potential of remote working for our rural towns and villages. Funding for the outdoor recreational infrastructure schemewill increase from €10 million to €12 million, reflecting the need to provide high-quality outdoor facilities for rural areas that can also support the domestic tourism offering. For the LEADER programme, I have allocated €44 million in capital funding for 2021, an increase of €4 million on 2020. As Deputies will be aware, I announced details of the €70 million LEADER transitional programme in April and I am delighted that project approvals are already ramping up under that new programme. Other important funding for rural development includes €10.5 million for the local improvement scheme, LIS, which is a 5% increase on 2020. Moreover, funding for the CLÁR programme will increase by 10% to €5.5 million.

I am also making €11 million available for the islands in 2021, which includes additional funding of €1 million to support transport services for the islands. Given that the rural development programme is capital funding-intensive, it is important to note that there will be real challenges in making up the ground lost due to the closure of construction sites until May. I therefore will keep expenditure plans under constant review and will seek to ensure that the resources provided are put to best use across the schemes in operation.

Moving to the community development programmes, I acknowledge the work of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, who is present this morning and who is passionate about our communities, both urban and rural. The €169 million allocation consists of €151 million in current expenditure and €18 million in capital expenditure. With this funding, the Department administers a range of programmes supporting both individuals and the broad community and voluntary sector. I propose to increase the allocation for the community services programme from €46.9 million to €48.9 million. This funding will benefit more than 400 community organisations and 2,000 people across the country and will help to ensure that vital community services are maintained into the future. I also plan to allocate €45 million to the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, in 2021, an increase of €1 million on 2020. This will ensure continued support for over 2,220 organisations and 23,000 disadvantaged individuals. The types of interventions being delivered through this funding will be vital in ensuring that the most vulnerable in our society also benefit from the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Other key provisions include €17.5 million for supports for the community and voluntary sector, €4.5 million for the community enhancement programme, €7.7 million for libraries development and €7 million for the cross-border PEACE programme. There is also a provision of €10 million for further once-off supports for charities, community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises through the Covid-19 stability fund. In 2020, this scheme benefited approximately 600 organisations and this additional funding is intended to focus on those who may not have benefited from Government support to date.

I thank the members of the committee for their time and attention this morning. I was with the committee a few weeks ago to discuss the Revised Estimates for the Department of Social Protection. The focus today is very much on the Department of Rural and Community Development. This Department was only established in 2017, but it is a brilliant Department and I am very proud to lead it. The staff in Dublin, Ballina and around the country are passionate about the work they do and I do not have to tell the Deputies about the good work that happens in the various schemes because they all see it in their own communities. We have made a great deal of progress and I believe the drive towards remote working has given the rural development agenda a major impetus. Dare I say it, but coming up with new ideas and new ways of doing things can be a challenge at times when one is in older, more established Departments. That is not the case in the Department of Rural and Community Development. The staff want to do their best for communities. They are open to trying new things and if we need to tweak a scheme to make it work better, we will do that. In other Departments, such as the Departments of Health and of Social Protection, one could be talking about billions and more billions of euro. This might be a small Department but it certainly makes a big impact. I want to maintain that and, hopefully, grow it even further.

I and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, are happy to answer any questions members have and to hear their ideas on how we can make things better.