Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo the Minister of State's comments about the great work that is happening in the Department of Rural and Community Development. Today, the focus is on rural development and future-proofing rural Ireland. That has really been achieved through the policy document and Our Rural Future. It is having the desired impact. We have been here, over the years, with different policy launches and different programmes and initiatives, trying to bring together and drive action locally and focus the money. This document and the strategy do exactly that. The drive to protect and enhance rural Ireland that the Minister has got behind over the past two and a half years with her Department, and since the Department was formed over five years ago, is being achieved. We are having that desired impact. We can see the roll-out of funding right across our country in a joined-up way, through working with the local authorities and local agencies to achieve the best bang for our buck. I know that the Minister, coming from where she does, likes to make sure that we get the best value out of every euro of taxpayers' money. She is achieving that because there is matched funding. Local groups are coming together and local initiatives and ideas are being put forward. They are bringing forward plans and suggesting buildings that can be refurbished, reused or repurposed, and they are working with local authorities. Everyone is coming together to make the applications for funding through the Department, and they are successful when they put the work in. We are getting a bang for our work.

Many projects are under way. The Minister visited my county only a few weeks ago. Looking back over the past few years, more than €28 million in funding from her Department has been invested in many projects right throughout the county, from Castlepollard to Fore, and from Oldcastle, Athboy, Moylagh up into Dunderry, Enfield, Ballivor, Trim, Navan and even Bective. There are many areas that have felt an impact. Kilmessan is next on the list. We will be lodging an application with the Department very soon. Again, we can see the opportunity there. The projects that are worthwhile are being brought forward. With a Minister who is proactive in working with groups and who works in a proactive Department to engage with people to make it happen, we are achieving the impact that was talked about here a few years ago when the policy document was being launched. That is what this is about. We want to see all Departments coming together and working together to protect, enhance and future-proof rural Ireland. Key to that has been making it an attractive place in which to invest and create jobs.

We set out a number of years ago to give people the opportunity, the choice and the option to either continue living or to go back to live in rural Ireland. That is now happening because of the roll-out of a range of policies by the Department and other Departments. Those policies are backed up by real money to make this happen. That is making it easier to create jobs and to win jobs and investment, whether that is investing in all the various facilities to make our towns and villages look more attractive, investing in community hubs and community centres in order that people can congregate and run services from there, providing services badly needed in the local community, or investing in broadband, which is an absolute game-changer. An investment of more than €5 billion has been made in this country. It was a decision made and driven by Fine Gael and a Fine Gael-led Government to make that happen. Most people in this House outside of the Government opposed it at the time. They could not see the benefit in making that long-term investment in rural Ireland. We could see it, and it has happened. That is making it possible to drive the remote working hubs and strategies referenced by the Minister. We are giving people the choice or the option to work at home or to work rurally, whether in a hub or not. It is about giving people the option or the choice. That is how we drive forward rural Ireland and protect it for many years into the future. If you drive around this country, you can see the difference or transformation in many parts of rural Ireland since 2011 or 2012. I remember having debates here on the national planning framework around Project Ireland 2040, and on whether it would happen and if we were going to close down rural Ireland. We were absolutely not going to do that. The complete opposite has happened. Rural Ireland is thriving, with population growth, employment growth and opportunities. The Minister has stated that there are many other areas that we want to enhance. There is ongoing work to be able to build on that, but we have to be honest with ourselves. Rural Ireland is in a very strong position. There are still pockets of it that we want to step into and do more work with. We want to work with the local groups to make it happen. That is what is being achieved by the Minister through Our Rural Future and through everybody working together to make it happen.

I want to compliment the work that is going on right across all the agencies. Our education and training boards, ETBs, local enterprise offices, Enterprise Ireland, regional skills fora, Intreo offices and all the different bodies are all coming together to enhance the work that is being driven by the Minister. I commend the engagement that is taking place to make it happen. You can really see it when you go into the co-working hubs and the network of hubs that has been developed. The target was 450, but we are nearly over the target with the way we have been driving it over the last few years. Close to 350 hubs are already connected and are working together through the connected hub space. What an achievement and opportunity that is. All those hub spaces are being developed. They are enhancing and adding to the services and delivering more opportunities. That means more job creation, more start-ups and more companies being established in rural Ireland.

I want to conclude on a point that was touched on by the Minister. We have been talking about protecting rural Ireland and protecting jobs. In my area, Tara Mines is based in the urban centre of Navan but it covers a rural area. Many people who work there come from rural Meath and beyond the boundaries of the county. It is really important that right across the Government we do what we can to protect and safeguard those jobs. My heart goes out to the 650 people directly employed by Tara Mines and their families. They are my neighbours and friends who I grew up with for years. On top of that, a few thousand jobs are also affected in other SMEs and rural and urban based companies feeding into the Tara Mines operation to make it happen and make it viable. That is a similar story right throughout rural Ireland. There are large companies that are supported by many smaller companies. I am delighted that the Minister met me yesterday to discuss supports and options for getting in there straight away. Our social protection team is available today to work with management and the HR team in Tara Mines, with the unions and with individual employees, who are in a very concerning position when one looks at the months ahead. The Department has stepped up already to put in place that additional service to make it easier for people to access their entitlements and the services they need.

We have also seen our ETBs stepping in immediately, telling workers that they are there to use any downtime for upskilling and targeting different areas and to work with everybody. They are complementing the work of Enterprise Ireland. We want to keep the apprenticeships there going and keep the apprentices in jobs. We want to make sure that this temporary closure is exactly that, and is temporary. We must get the mine back up and running at full production very quickly. Most of us are aware, and certainly from talking to management last night, I know that there is a very secure long-term future for Tara Mines under the management of Boliden if we all work together and play our part. A big aspect of that is finding a low-cost green energy solution. A similar comment could be made right throughout rural Ireland. We can achieve that by working together. I thank the Ministers, Deputy Humphreys and Coveney, for their speedy reaction to the news. We must commit to working with Tara Mines and all the employees and their families in the weeks and months ahead to make sure that this has a short-term impact and that we can protect their future and that of the county by protecting the mine.

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