Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the progress made with the implementation of the Action Plan for Rural Development to date; the results that have been achieved to date to improve the life of those living in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38642/18]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I am looking for an update on the Action Plan for Rural Development. I know it was never going to be a bestseller and that it would be very late coming out but I do not blame the Minister for that. What progress has been made on the implementation of the action plan and what difference has it made to the life of the ordinary people in rural Ireland? That is the more important question.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Improving the quality of life of those who live and work in rural communities is a key objective of the Action Plan for Rural Development. It is the most comprehensive Government plan ever produced to support economic and social development in rural areas.

Progress reports on the implementation of the action plan are published twice-yearly on my Department's website. The most recent report, published in May 2018, shows that 254 of the 270 actions to be reported on were either completed on schedule or substantially advanced, representing an implementation rate of 93%.

4 o’clock

Work is under way on compiling the third progress report, which will outline the status of actions due for delivery in the first half of 2018. The draft report will be considered at the next meeting of the monitoring committee which oversees the action plan, and will be published on my Department's website thereafter. The actions being delivered are having an impact. For example, in the case of my own Department’s programmes alone, €31.6 million has been invested in more than 450 projects under the town and village renewal scheme while the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme has had €23 million allocated to almost 500 projects. More than 1,200 projects have been approved for total funding of €25 million under the CLÁR programme. Since last September, 1,100 private roads in rural areas have benefitted from investment of €28.2 million under the local improvement scheme and more than 1,300 projects with a value of over €39 million have now been approved under the current LEADER programme.

These, and other initiatives across Government, are improving the quality of life for people in rural areas and supporting job creation in the regions. Continued implementation of the Action Plan for Rural Development, together with the additional investment provided for through the rural regeneration and development fund, will ensure that the Government delivers on its commitment under Project Ireland 2040 to strengthen rural economies and communities.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has confirmed what I thought. The action plan was purely a copy and paste job. He is, of course, saying that great progress has been made. That is not difficult because all the things he mentioned were already in train by Departments. The reality, however, is that rural Ireland is still without the essentials such as broadband, mobile phone connection and roads while the pupil-teacher ratio in the small school is worse than it was in 2011. Basic services are disappearing. I have two specific questions for the Minister.

The Minister's mentioned that LEADER was one of the great actions of the Action Plan for Rural Development. What is the provision for LEADER from 2014 to 2020? It predates the Action Plan for Rural Development anyway. What is the comparison with the provision for the LEADER programme that immediately preceded it from 2007 to 2013? Will the Minister explain something to me about which I am curious? I asked a series of questions about the update and the action plan for which the Minister is responsible. For some inexplicable reason his Department transferred many of those questions, although not all of them because some of them were answered, to other Departments. That is the Minister shirking his responsibility for the Action Plan for Rural Development. I do not blame him for that.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Ó Cuív. He is aware of this but in respect of the action plan, there were 270 actions and 254 have been completed. That is a success rate of 93%. Deputy Ó Cuív is long enough in this House, longer than I am, to know and understand better than anyone how the House works. It is one of the things that he is actually good at. He also knows about Ministers and what responsibilities they have. I outlined my responsibilities very quickly to the Deputy in respect of the town of Enniskeane rural recreation scheme. He has specific questions on LEADER that I will answer later on.

On the question the Deputy posed to me on the action plan, we have had great successes. The Deputy raises the issue of broadband all of the time. The tender for the national broadband plan will be going out shortly. It is great to see someone else coming in and tendering for it.

When we came into government, 52% of the population had high-speed broadband. That is now up to more than 75%. That is a good achievement but it is no good telling that to the other 25% who do not have it. That is what we are now working on and that is the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne. He is doing an excellent job on the broadband plan with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten. We ran into some difficulties but it is up and running.

I will give a simple example to prove the broadband scheme is working. My house was one of the houses connected last week because I just happened to be on the map. I have to say that having the high-speed broadband means that I do not have to be running into the office at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. at night to check emails. It is great to have it in my own house. The broadband plan and the action plan are working. I will certainly respond in respect of the specific question that Deputy Ó Cuív asked on LEADER.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Would the Minister agree that the whole action plan was just a fig leaf to cover up the nakedness of the Government in respect of rural Ireland? Will the Minister admit to me, the House and the world that the net investment to date in the high-speed broadband that has been delivered to anybody in the country is zero? The broadband the Minister got last week and the broadband I have in my house, because like him I happen to be near the box, was provided by Eir without any subsidy from the Government. It was actually held up in that particular work by the Government. The Minister should not claim things he did not do. Will he stand up like a man and admit that he and his Government have not put one dime into rural broadband, except to have this massively expensive tender that to date has not provided one house or one business with high-speed broadband?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ó Cuív amazes me sometimes. When I give him statistics he does not like them. The statistics are that when we came into government more than 50% of the population had high-speed broadband. I do not have responsibility for it. It is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Seán Kyne, along with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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That is all very well.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Wait a minute now. More than 75% of the people in the country now have high-speed broadband.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister did not do anything.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ó Cuív is correct that the commercial sector did that and I compliment it. We are now going to deal with the rest and that is why the Government is putting a package and a tender in place. I am glad to see there is competition within that tender to make sure the rest of the country will get high-speed broadband.

The Deputy has travelled the world. I represented the Government in Boston last year and it has the same problems we have in Dublin city with traffic, housing and jobs. People just outside Boston do not have high-speed broadband.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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So that is-----

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It is a world-wide problem but people are looking at Ireland and are seeing what we are doing. They are saying well done on having 75% of the population with high-speed broadband. As I said, the 25% who do not have it want to have it. I am one of the people provided with it, where a commercial operator came in. That happened because the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, the Minister, Deputy Naughten, and the Government put pressure on the commercial sector.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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That is not true.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In fact, if we had not drawn that map we might have had up to 80% because there were areas where the commercial sector could not go ahead because someone would have had us in the High Court because we did not put it out to tender. I say well done to the commercial sector. It is doing its job and has rolled out as much as possible. I hope with the new tender that many corners of Ireland without high-speed broadband will get it. People all over the world are watching us and are saying well done, that we have rolled it out very well and have done a good job. I hope we can get 100% of people covered. I will admit it is the one tool that we all want in rural Ireland. It is the one piece of infrastructure that we need in Donegal, Mayo, Galway and elsewhere in the country.