Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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On Question No. 1 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald is substituting for Deputy Gerry Adams.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Regional and Rural Affairs last met. [29979/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Cabinet committee on regional and rural affairs last met on 9 May 2017. The Government will shortly make a decision to re-establish more streamlined Cabinet committee structures. The Cabinet committee on regional and rural affairs was established to co-ordinate the work of Departments that affect rural Ireland. Its main focus has been on the preparation and implementation of the action plan for rural development which was published in January. The action plan contains 276 actions for delivery across government, State agencies and other bodies to support improved quality of life, economic activity and public service delivery across Ireland's rural communities.

Good progress has been achieved since the action plan was launched and an interim progress report was submitted to the Cabinet committee and published in May. It identifies progress in areas, including the provision of rural broadband, a €20 million investment in the town and village renewal scheme, 500 additional places for the rural social scheme and establishment of the Atlantic economic corridor task force. One pillar of the action plan is to support enterprise and employment in all regions, with the objective of creating 135,000 extra jobs outside Dublin by 2020. While there are still disparities between areas, the quarter one figures from the CSO show that 77% of all jobs created in the past year were created outside Dublin and that the unemployment rate had fallen in all regions in the past year. The new Minister for Rural and Community Development now has responsibility for leading implementation of the action plan and the first formal six-monthly progress report is due to be published in July.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The decision at the weekend by the British Government to exit the London Fisheries Convention will have serious implications for the Irish fishing industry. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade tells us that he only heard about it through the media. Was no one in government forewarned about this action? The British stance is obviously part of the hard Brexit Ms Theresa May appears to be absolutely determined to pursue. According to 2015 figures released by the British, about 10,000 tonnes of fish were caught by other countries under the London Fisheries Convention, worth an estimated £17 million. Can the Taoiseach state how much of that figure was caught by Irish boats operating from this state? The potential consequences for the rural communities that depend on fishing are enormous, as we all accept. Has the Government raised this matter with Mr. Michel Barnier and the EU negotiating team? Will the Taoiseach stress to our EU partners the economic importance of fishing to the Irish economy and the need for EU support for those communities that will be affected by these British decisions? Will he agree to hold a debate in the Dáil on this matter before the recess? Will he instruct the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to appear before the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline the measures the Government intends to take to protect the livelihoods of Irish fishermen, fisher-women and families? Rural communities and families are also under threat from the announcement made last week by European Commissioner Günther Oettinger of farm subsidies certainly facing cuts as Brexit will leave a black hole in the EU budget. The Commissioner said reductions under the CAP were likely. Has the Government spoken to the Commission about these matters? Has Commissioner Hogan given any information to the Government on these proposals? The European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Ms Corina Creţu, has also warned that governments will have to consider topping up direct payments to farmers. Is the Taoiseach prepared to sanction this?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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When the re-establishment of a Department of community and rural affairs was announced three weeks ago, no details were provided on what its responsibilities would be. There has since been near-complete silence. In the Taoiseach's leadership manifesto there is very little detail on rural affairs, with the programme simply promising to implement existing policies. It is clear that the Department of Deputy Michael Ring will be significantly smaller than that of its predecessor before it was abolished by Fine Gael six years ago. I believe that was an incorrect decision. Development schemes for the Gaeltacht and the islands have been left to the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, under Deputy Heather Humphreys. Nothing appears to have moved from the Department of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten. Drugs policy is remaining under the Department of Health. The last point indicates a highly regressive move and decision. In the past two decades the major progress made in drugs policy was based on working with communities, partnerships and task forces in various areas, both urban and rural, through development work and schemes, particularly for young people at risk. That was a far more effective way of dealing with drugs policy and implementing a draft strategy than operating singularly through the Department of Health.

On Leader programme funding, the last Government performed a desperate deed against rural communities by savaging the Leader programme and taking autonomy away from leadership groups and subsuming it under the county council. It is now bedevilled by over-regulation and bureaucracy such that the reduced funds available to it cannot be drawn down by many of the groups involved.

The implementation of broadband policy has been an absolute failure in rural areas. I echo what what has been said about the challenges facing fisheries and agriculture arising from Brexit. These are two of the main economic pillars of rural areas.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I wish to focus on two areas, the first being broadband. Most people outside the major cities were profoundly worried about the impact of the delay in the rolling out of broadband. Obviously, I was directly involved in the previous Administration in examining this issue and setting out clearly what would be commercially available and the areas in which the State had to step in. We had every expectation that the tender would would have been out by now to fill the gap in order that provision would be made for the entire country, to be completed in the next 18 months or so, but we have not even got to analysis stage to determine what the tender will look like. This is a really important issue.

My second question relates to regional rebalancing. The Taoiseach has been around the country campaigning to be leader of his party. He will know, just as I know from travellling around the country, that there is a real need for somebody with a big idea, the big idea of rebalancing the country. Bluntly, that will not be done with the rural plan we have of making sure every county receives something. We need to have concrete action to have a focus on the mid-west, the south and west to rebalance away from the east in order that not all economic activity will be sucked into the east. Considering that the Taoiseach is a big admirer of both the Canadian Prime Minister, whom he is hosting today, and the French President, Mr. Macron, who present themselves as big ideas persons, does he have a view on developing a big idea to have true regional rebalancing in the State?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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With regard to fisheries, to the best of my knowledge, we were not given any prior notice of the UK Government's notification that it intends to withdraw from the London Fisheries Convention. As I mentioned earlier, it has no immediate effect as withdrawal takes about two years. In reality, it will get tied up with the Brexit negotiations, which of course involve the UK leaving the Common Fisheries Policy as well, should it proceed with Brexit as it plans. Some 35% of the fish we land is taken from UK waters, including some of the most valuable fish such as mackerel and prawn. As I mentioned, I was not aware that we take so much valuable fish from British waters. I had often heard the reverse being spoken about but had not heard so much about what we take from UK waters.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is the beneficial side of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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With regard to debates, I am scheduling them as a matter for the Business Committee, but Sinn Féin is free to use its time to discuss fisheries or marine matters at any time it so wishes. When it comes to committees, invitations are issued by the committees and not by me. We have of course discussed issues relating to fisheries and the reform of the CAP with both Commissioner Hogan and Mr. Michel Barnier. In addition to that, the Minister, Deputy Creed, has been working closely with counterparts in other EU member states with a particular interest in fishing in the north-western waters. We plan to have a united front and a common negotiating position for Ireland as part of the European Union during this period. The Minister, Deputy Creed, will be speaking to the UK Secretary of State, Michael Gove, this week about this and other priority issues.

With regard to the new Department of rural and community development, the Department will be taking the rural affairs and regional development section from the Department of arts, heritage and Gaeltacht, and the community section from the Department of Housing, Community, Planning and Local Government. Also, it will most likely take the charity sector from the Department of Justice and Equality. The new Department will not be taking Gaeltacht affairs. That will remain in the Department of arts, culture and the Gaeltacht, with its name still to be finalised. What is being recreated there is the Department that existed in 1997, when it was originally created under President Higgins. It will be slightly smaller than the previous Department, but that is mainly because the Gaeltacht portfolio is not going to be a part of the Department of rural and community development. An interim Secretary General has now been appointed. Work is under way to get that Department up and running. There is much important work to be done there.

Like many things, one could place something like drugs in many Departments and could associate it with justice, education, health or community. My view is that drugs and addiction are health issues and that the best place for drugs is in the Department of Health, and not the Department of Justice and Equality or the Department of community affairs. Of course, that is a matter of opinion. I am also conscious that the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is now finalising the new national drugs strategy. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to allow her to finish that work and to finish it in the Department of Health and not to disrupt things by moving that area of policy to a different Department. What is more important than which Department it is in is that the work gets done and the new strategy is produced and implemented.

With regard to Deputy Howlin's question on regional development, I noted that he mentioned the mid-west, the south and the west, but not the south east. I am not sure whether that was an oversight on his part-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I did not want to sound parochial.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----as to whether he believes the south east should be left out as we focus on development in other regions such as the mid-west, the south and the west, which he mentioned. Two things are in development that I believe will have a big impact on rebalancing our country and ensuring there are alternative poles of development to Dublin. One of those is Ireland 2040, the spatial plan that is now advanced and being developed by the Minister, Deputy Murphy. The other is the new capital plan. Key to ensuring that all regions in all parts of the country have the opportunity to benefit from prosperity is to make sure that they have the infrastructure they need. I expect that to include extending and improving the road network in various parts of the country, such as between Cork and Limerick and into the north west, and continuing to invest in broadband. However, I believe there are limitations to how far Government policy can take us when it comes to these issues. Certainly, what we can see is a recovery that is taking hold all over the country. We see that in the employment numbers going up in every region, the unemployment numbers going down in every region and income stats improving in every region. It is also very evident that we need to accelerate the recovery and economic development in parts of the country that have not benefited to the extent that others have. That makes sense for many reasons, not least the fact that Dublin is becoming congested and price inflation is very much affecting this city. Therefore, it is to this city's advantage that there would be more balanced regional development. I hope that those two plans will help to bring us some of the way there.