Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In response to Deputy Casey's question regarding rural and regional development, details of the reassignment of responsibilities among Departments, including my own, were outlined by the Taoiseach in his statement to Dáil Éireann of 6 May last. Officials of my Department have been engaging with their counterparts in other relevant Departments to establish the precise details of the functions to come under the remit of my Department and to identify the associated personnel and other resources to be transferred. This process is well advanced and I anticipate that the formal reassignment of the rural development functions from the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will take place in the coming week. This will include responsibility for the Leader programme; natural rural development schemes; rural recreation, including the walks scheme; implementation of the report of the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas, CEDRA, and the Charter for Rural Ireland; the town and village renewal scheme; the Western Development Commission, dormant accounts; social enterprise; and the Tidy Towns competition.

Discussions are yet to be completed regarding the transfer of functions and resources in regard to the rural post office network and rural broadband. I can confirm, however, that I am already working closely with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to advance delivery of key elements of the national broadband plan and to accelerate and prioritise the roll-out of the programme in rural areas.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for the details she has given. Could she clarify if she will be getting responsibility for rural transport and marine leisure? Will she be reinstating the CLÁR programme? Will she be getting responsibility for school transport? The Minister said she was being given responsibility for the rural development programme. Is that correct?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Does that mean that, for example, responsibility for disadvantaged area payments and agri-environmental scheme payments, which are the biggest part of the rural development programme, are transferring to her Department also?

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The timescale for all of this process is important for people living throughout the State. It is more than three months since the election. I understand it will take a number of weeks to centralise all these responsibilities in her Department, which means we will be up against the summer recess period. Over that period, we, as opposition Deputies, cannot table questions to the Minister, therefore, it will be difficult for us to carry out our responsibilities in holding the Minister responsible for a period that may be up to six months duration following the general election.

We live in a two-tier economy where much of the State is suffering from below par economic activity, low incomes and poverty etc. To rebalance that in terms of development, we will not be able to help reorientate policy possibly for months to come. I would like a clear response from the Minister on when exactly the Department will be fully understanding of its direct remit.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I will answer Deputy Toíbín's question first. Most of the functions will be transferred next week. The transfer of all the rural affairs functions from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government will be done next week. The broadband provision and rural post offices functions will be done very shortly, and probably the following week, but the transfer of the rural affairs functions will definitely be done next week.

To answer Deputy Ó Cuív's question, I will not have responsibility for rural transport or school transport. We will have responsibility for the CLÁR programme. However, we will have an action plan for rural Ireland and a special Cabinet sub-committee will be set up. I will co-ordinate the responses of all the Departments with respect to rural Ireland, and there will be a new cross-Government plan to drive investment and regenerate rural Ireland in terms of the action plan for rural Ireland.

This will ensure there is ministerial oversight and rural-proofing of Government decisions. I want to see Departments discriminate positively towards rural Ireland.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister explain to me the rationale behind not transferring one programme that had the word "rural" in its title to her Department, that is, rural transport? That is what it says on the can. Will she tell me whether she will press for the reinstitution of the decentralisation programme which was so important to bringing jobs to the regions? If she is not getting the big spending parts of the rural development plan, other than Leader, what is the Minister getting out of the rural development plan?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Rural transport remains in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport but I will be co-ordinating all of the Departments in terms of the focus on rural Ireland. Rural transport is a tremendous benefit to rural Ireland. We all have our local transport companies and one sees how successfully it regenerates small towns when people are brought in on pension day. It is great for towns and we must continue to build on that. In my county, work with the health service is being built on. I want to impress on the House how important rural transport is. We have the Leader programme but I do not have the part of the rural development fund that relates to farming, which belongs to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We also have the rural economic development zones and that is something that has been developed.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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What about decentralisation? Will the Minister push that?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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That is different.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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That is another question. We cannot get into it here.