Dáil debates

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Other Questions

Action Plan for Rural Development

11:25 am

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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37. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development to outline the new measures he plans to roll out under the Action Plan for Rural Development in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8718/18]

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I will ask the Minister the next question. The Minister need not go with all the rigmarole. Can he simply get the answer and cut out the crap?

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy should mind his language.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise.

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Apology accepted.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister cut out all the waffle? I think that is an acceptable term in the Parliament.

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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That is perfectly acceptable. I thank the Deputy.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister tell me what new schemes he is rolling out this year in the rural development sector?

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I do not talk raiméis, unlike the Deputy across the way, and I want to put that on the record as well. The schemes I will roll out include the CLÁR programme, the rural recreation scheme, the town and village scheme and the local improvement scheme.

Deputy Ó Cuív is the very man who doubted me in the context of my budget. He kept criticising the budget. Why can he not be positive? Why can he not accept that I have opened the schemes and delivered on them? What about all the projects delivered in the past 18 months under the town and village scheme, rural recreation scheme, CLÁR programme and the LIS? Can Deputy Ó Cuív not be positive for one day and admit that I got a good budget, a 60% increase in the budget for next year? Over the next year, I will oversee almost a 100% increase in the budget for this Department. This will be a good Department. It will support and help rural Ireland.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister be a little more specific on the schemes he will roll out this year under the rural development plan? Are there no new schemes under the CLÁR programme? Will there be more walkways? What new schemes will emerge? The Minister should not give me generic answers. They reflect badly on him because it is obvious that he does not know what he is doing.

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy knows the plan was published on Friday last. He knows we got €1 billion extra for rural development over the next ten years.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The figure is €312 million.

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for Finance and I will sit down together in the coming weeks. The existing schemes are all staying. I will be looking at opening new schemes and programmes. We intend to have the announcement ready for July. Deputy Ó Cuív knows the announcement was made on Friday - he was a Minister for long enough. He cannot expect me to have the plans drawn up and ready to go to the public by the following Wednesday. This will happen. I will have the scheme opened by July. I intend that we will have applications and that the funding will start rolling in early next year.

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister be rolling out new measures under CLÁR this year?

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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For the first round of the CLÁR programme, I will use the existing rules and schemes from last year. However, I will look at the extra funding. I am looking now at new schemes now that I know I have a budget for next year, the year after and the year after that. Now, I will be able to put these schemes in place.

Deputy Ó Cuív should give me a little time to sit down with other Ministers. There is one thing I do not want to see. Deputy Ó Cuív knows this because he was long enough there. He knows what I do not want to see. I have no wish to operate schemes for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the Department of Health. They will have to match funding for some of the schemes I will put in place. I do not want to supplement them. That is why I would love if I could get the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to put a further €10 million into the LIS. Then we would have a €20 million scheme. I have done my part. What I want to do now is ensure that I do not take on work from other Departments. Deputy Ó Cuív saw this happen before. If I did that, they would move back and not do anything. I need to sit down with them. I need a little time. I need to formulate schemes. I need matching funding for these schemes. These Departments will have to come up to the plate as well.