Dr. Karen Keaveney:

I can see what the Chair is saying. In the exercise he carried out in Boyle and, say, Castlerea, he really picked up on the view that you had to look at a place. There is no one rural area or town, and we know that rural areas and towns are incredibly diverse and becoming more so.

There is no one blueprint. It must come from the bottom up. It must be community-led. Part of what is required is strong expert facilitation. For example, in the geo west-coast project, one of my colleagues from the centre for Irish towns facilitated the exercise in Mulranny. There were expert consultants working in Cromane and Asdee in County Kerry who understood the process. In many ways, what needs to be rolled out more than anything else is a robust methodology so that people know there is something they can follow but it has to be adapted to each place. That means it is complicated and is not necessarily the easiest to roll out because it must be adaptable for every place. However, people need to be provided with a framework. We developed an online tool in conjunction with the three community groups and the three local development companies. They were vital to its development. We told that story. I would like it if another community could see that link and say that it could apply an element of our approach and use some of our tools but there must be a different plan for every place. That requires resources. However, there is potential, through the LEADER programme or the rural regeneration fund that has been mentioned. In a funny sense, the villages I worked with needed a relatively small pot of money to get started but it was about letting them buy in the expert facilitation. As one part of that project, we did a peer exchange. Everybody came together and learned from each other. Universities are in a good position to facilitate that kind of peer learning and that would be another important step. I always stress that bottom up, place based and in partnership are key to everything to do with rural planing and rural development.