Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy says, agriculture is still the core of rural Ireland, not just economically but socially as well in terms of the leadership, skills and supply chain that are provided. I will engage with the farming organisations as we carry out the consultation process on Our Rural Future. We will be looking for their input and support.

There have been various iterations of support from my Department, through social enterprise. This year, for example, there has been very good investment in FoodCloud and trying to reduce food waste. That helps rural businesses as well. We have also supported rural social enterprises.

I assure Deputy McCormack that the involvement of young people in rural Ireland is core to this consultation process, because the process would be much weaker without their involvement and input. I welcome any Deputy or Senator who provides a targeted response on how we can support young people to remain in or to come back to rural Ireland to establish a business. In my previous Ministry, through the regional enterprise plans, we had a number of supports for start-up businesses by younger people.

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