Dáil debates

Tuesday, 2 May 2017

Other Questions

Action Plan for Rural Development Implementation

7:00 pm

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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47. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the actions that have been progressed by her Department under the Action Plan for Rural Development; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20343/17]

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I wish to ask the Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to outline the status of the actions that have been progressed by her Department under the Action Plan for Rural Development and if she will make a statement on the matter. I was very grateful that the plan was launched in Ballymahon in my constituency, Longford-Westmeath. To have the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, there was a significant display of confidence in rural Ireland.

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Realising our Rural Potential, the Government's Action Plan for Rural Development, was launched in January this year. The plan contains over 270 actions to be delivered by a range of Government Departments, State agencies and other bodies over the next three years to support the economic and social development of rural Ireland.

My Department is leading on more than 60 of the actions in the plan. These actions will be implemented on a phased basis over the timeline of the plan, with timeframes for delivery set out in the document itself. Progress reports on my Department’s actions, and all other actions in the plan, will be published on a six-monthly basis, with the first report due to be published around July. I can, however, report that since the launch of the action plan my Department has made significant progress on a range of actions.

In February, I announced details of more than €9 million in capital funding for 56 arts and culture centres across the country. Over 80% of this investment will be in centres in rural areas. In the past number of weeks I, along with Minister of State, Deputy Ring, have launched the town and village renewal scheme and the CLÁR programme. Both schemes are now open for applications, primarily through the local authorities.

The Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, and I have established and co-chair an implementation group on broadband connectivity to drive the delivery of the actions in the report of the mobile phone and broadband task force which was published last December. Progress reports from the implementation group will be published on a quarterly basis, with the first report due shortly. My Department continues to work closely with local authorities on an ongoing basis to ensure there are no local barriers to broadband deployment and to identify priority areas for roll-out. Other actions which have been significantly progressed include the announcement by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, of €500,000 in capital investment to boost the tourism potential of Ireland's national parks, the successful staging across the country of Cruinniú na Casca events on Easter Monday and the establishment of a new task force, chaired by the Minister of State, to progress the concept of an Atlantic economic corridor.

7:10 pm

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister's reply and the effort the Department is making to invest money in rural Ireland. It is important that we have an action plan and that it be reviewed. That has been very successful in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Education and Skills. It is a very strong template with which to move forward and I commend the Minister for taking the initiative. It is very welcome in terms of the investment by the Government in rural Ireland. However, there are a few areas of concern. While it is welcome that 300,000 houses nationally are now coming under the commercial initiative for broadband, which is a house a minute for the next 90 days and a huge investment in rural Ireland, there are issues in rural parts of my constituency which are not covered by the commercial operators and which depend on the national broadband intervention scheme. There are parts of south Longford, including Legan and Ardagh which I visited with Councillor Paul Ross, where major businesses such as Billy Moran & Sons which are within fractional distance of major broadband areas cannot be connected. They cannot even run credit card machines in their businesses. It is important that we get the plan to intervene for these key areas.

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, is rolling out the national broadband plan which is in the procurement process. It will address areas where commercial operators will not provide a service. It was welcome news that Eir was to provide high-speed broadband for 300,000 more homes. It is most important to have a monitoring committee because the action plan for rural development is a cross-government plan. Every Department has included actions in the plan and it is important that they all be monitored in order that when someone commits to something, he or she will do it. That is the purpose of the monitoring committee. Various measures in the plan are being progressed every week. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, launched the rural recreation programme on Friday and, as he said in the House, he wants a quick turnaround on it, as well as on CLÁR applications. I will shortly announce the opening of applications in stream 3 of the arts and culture capital scheme, in which Deputy Peter Burke has a great interest. We had a very successful launch in Moate a couple of weeks ago of the new €20 million town and village renewal scheme. I was delighted that the Deputy was able to attend on the day. Moate Action Group is doing great work locally to enhance the town and local community. We want to support such groups through the wide range of funding streams available.

Photo of Peter BurkePeter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for being ambitious. It is very important that these targets be reviewed. If one looks at the headline figures, there is an ambition to create 135,000 new jobs by 2020. The Minister is right to be ambitious and ensure the target is monitored. It is very important for a constituency such as Longford-Westmeath to increase the number of overseas visitors. The ambition in the plan to increase it by 12% is also very worthwhile. Some 600 villages across rural Ireland will benefit from funding through the Department. It is very important to note, looking at the schemes to which the Minister referred, that 80% of the arts and culture budget is going to rural Ireland, while the CLÁR and town and village renewal schemes are key programmes under which people will be able to see tangible projects delivered in rural Ireland by the Government. It is important to continue that programme of investment. I have no doubt that if the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, replicates his successful delivery of the sports capital programme, the CLÁR programme will be a huge success.

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Is the Minister aware of the statements made by the new CEO of An Post that hundreds of post offices are likely to close? I understood the retention of the post office system was an integral part of the development and maintenance of services in rural Ireland. There was a slight dust up between my good friend the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, and the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, about who was responsible. As the senior Minister, has Deputy Heather Humphreys clarified the position? I worked very hard in the Department of Social Protection to ensure it maintained services and used the post office network. I now see that even the collection of the television licence fee is out for tender. This is really important to people as I find when I go to small towns and villages. The last Government succeeded in preventing the closure of almost all post offices, but it now seems that hundreds of them are to close.

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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A lot of work has been done in my Department by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ring, on post offices. A post office working group was established and we worked with stakeholders to identify opportunities to increase services in post offices, which is what we want to see. We want a post office service which is sustainable and will be used in towns and villages across the country. We are living in changed times. There is an IT revolution and everything is being done through phones or electronically. Of course, post offices face challenges. It is very important that local communities use their local post offices, but it is also important that post offices provide the services community members need and will use. To that end, the Minister of State has developed a pilot project which we are shortly to roll out. We have provided funding for the project within the Department.