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

We published a consultant's report on the Department website in January. Rural proofing has been seen to be a complex issue internationally and no country is considered to have been fully successfully implementing rural proofing to date. Approaches taken to date can be described as voluntary, compulsory, policy decisions and legislative. The report favours an approach based on option B, which is compulsory approaches through policy decision but no one-size-fits-all model can be effectively applied to the Irish context; rather a phased pilot approach based on clear consultation is recommended. The report states this will not be achieved instantaneously but through consultation with Departments on the proposed model and a piloted approach backed up with training advice and guidance facilitated centrally by my Department.

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