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

With high-speed broadband, people can do the same job in Ballybay, Ballsbridge, Malin Beg or Manhattan.

What does this mean for rural communities? It means people's sons and daughters can have a good career and live in their local community. It means they can build a house and start a family in their own locality. It means they can spend money in the local shop, their children can go to the local primary school and they can play for the local GAA club. Most important of all, it means a better quality of life. That is what remote working enables. Remote working hubs offer workers a good environment in which to work in their own community.

If we have more people working in rural Ireland, we need homes for them. The Croí Cónaithe vacant homes scheme has been a fantastic success, offering grants of between €50,000 and €70,000 for the refurbishment of vacant and derelict properties. I know from my constituency office there is huge interest in the scheme. We are already seeing work starting on properties that have been lying idle for years. In the same vein, the help-to-buy scheme is a big help for any young person building a new house in the country. For a young couple building their own home, they can get tax relief of €30,000 towards the cost. That is a huge help.

I said earlier that there are challenges in rural areas. Planning is one such challenge. None of us wants to see a return to the bad old days of ribbon development or houses being built on flood plains. However, there has to be a balance in this regard. Our planning regulations need to support people to build on their own land. We have a golden, once-in-a-generation opportunity now to support the return of young people to our rural parishes. Government policy must support this, not get in the way of it. It is critical that the forthcoming rural planning guidelines from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage recognise this.

There are many positive initiatives happening in rural areas under the remit of different Departments. The Macroom bypass opened last year following a €300 million investment. The new Westport to Castlebar road involved a €250 million investment in the west. There has been a major expansion of rural transport services, with enhanced services announced to 67 routes countrywide. The roll-out of the technological university model is now complete and is providing high-quality education opportunities for third-level students in regional locations. Almost €1 billion is being invested in school building projects throughout the country this year alone. More than €45 million was invested last year in the upgrade of 860-plus community centres. Town regeneration officers are in place in every county to utilise the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, the town and village renewal scheme and other funding programmes to bring vacant and derelict properties back into use. All of this investment stems from the €165 billion provided under the national development plan, NDP.

I have been in every county over the past two and a half years. Indeed, I have been to most of them two or three times at this stage. There is genuine positivity and optimism in rural communities at the moment. We have to seize this moment. That is what Our Rural Future is all about. I mentioned my home parish of Aghabog at the start of my contribution and I return to it as I conclude. Aghabog has a small rural GAA club. For a long time now, it either has not been able to field a team in some age groups or it has had to amalgamate with other clubs to make up the numbers. This year, for the first time in decades, Aghabog can field a team on its own at every level from under-tens right through to seniors. It is stories like this that convince me we are on the right track. I look forward to hearing Deputies' contributions to this debate.

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