Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his good wishes which I appreciate. He held this brief for many years and I am delighted to be back in charge of it. I am pleased and honoured to serve in government. I am looking forward to working with the Deputy and I am sure we will have many battles on many issues in the coming years.

The action plan for rural development is one of the most significant initiatives undertaken by any Government to support the economic and social development of rural Ireland. The plan recognises that in the 21st century rural Ireland is modern and creative and forms an integral part of the economy through its enterprises, heritage and culture. The plan seeks to change the negative perception of rural Ireland and help it to realise its full potential. In that context, it contains more than 270 tangible actions across government which will support the economic and social progress of rural Ireland. A comprehensive monitoring structure has been put in place to ensure all of these actions will be implemented. Progress reports will he published every six months, with the first due to be published in July. A high level monitoring committee which I chair has also been established to oversee this process and ensure the actions will be delivered. The actions are being rolled out and beginning to make an impact. For example, we launched the 2017 town and village renewal scheme, with funding of €20 million over 15 months, to support the economic development of up to 300 rural towns and villages; €9 million has been approved for investment in 56 arts and culture centres across the country, with over 80% of the investment in rural areas; while I launched the 2017 CLÁR programme and the rural recreation infrastructure scheme, with combined funding of €16 million, to support rural communities.

Other Ministers and Departments have also delivered significant initiatives with clear benefits for rural communities. For example, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation continues to deliver the regional action plans for jobs and more than three quarters of all employment created in the first quarter of the year was outside Dublin. The Department of Social Protection has created an additional 500 places on the rural social scheme. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine recently announced that €3.6 million had been allocated to 153 projects under the seven fisheries local action groups. These and other developments can be found in an interim progress report on the action plan for rural development which is available on a new dedicated website for rural development matters: www.ruralireland.ie.

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