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

I work closely with local authorities through which we have rolled out the town and village enhancement scheme and the Clár and rural recreation programmes. We will continue to work with them in implementing the action plan. This will be important as they are often the key to local communities. The plan takes a ground-up approach in which communities will devise plans based on what will work best in their locality. They will then present their plans to their respective local authority which will, in turn, submit applications to the Department. This approach has worked well in the town and village enhancement and Clár programmes. People have told me the funding provided under the town and village scheme has been very useful and the scheme has benefited a number of projects across the country.

I assure the Deputy that the plan will be closely monitored. In addition to the monitoring committee, the Cabinet committee on rural affairs chaired by the Taoiseach will also monitor it. We will all be held to account to ensure the plan is implemented.

See this speech in context