Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is disappointing that work will not begin on this rural proofing model until later this year. I assume that will be after the Minister makes her initial plan for what will be carried out and what her list of actions will be for this year. Obviously, a rural proofing model is long overdue in respect of the impact of certain Government policies. In many cases it will be too late. However, it is very important. The Minister mentioned the need for the recovery to be balanced. After the last recession the recovery was not balanced, and many rural towns and villages never recovered from that recession. In some cases, that was due to decisions made by the Government and Government policies because there was no rural proofing and no consideration of the impact of certain measures on rural towns and villages. We see the result of that. I ask the Minister to look at developing the rural proofing model. Who will be involved in that regard? Can she give any more details? Will she be engaging with stakeholders on what it needs to be?

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