Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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55. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the measures he has put in place to offset the effects of Brexit for Border communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15547/19]

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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The question is a basic one in the context of Brexit. I know the Minister is aware of the situation. The constituency I represent is very much a Border county. Everywhere in Europe, borders are recognised as areas of economic decline because there are two jurisdictions backing up to each other. Until we hurry on the day we end that, which we hope we will do very quickly, we need to put something in place, and we certainly need to put something in place in the context of Brexit. The Department is crucial for rural communities because most of the Border counties are very rural and they need to see an increased emphasis on getting investment in place.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It should be noted that preparations for all the various Brexit scenarios are being led at Government level by my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney. The Government's planning for Brexit was initiated in advance of the UK referendum in June 2016. My Department and its agencies have fed into this process where appropriate and will continue to engage across Government and with our stakeholders in the rural and community development sectors.

The Government remains firmly of the view that the best way to ensure an orderly withdrawal and to fully protect the Good Friday Agreement is to ratify the withdrawal agreement. This is a fair and balanced deal with compromises on both sides. However, given the political uncertainty in the United Kingdom, the risk of a no-deal outcome remains. The Government, working at the EU level and at home, has been preparing for all outcomes for all communities and citizens. I am confident that we are as ready as we can be but it is important that businesses and citizens do what is necessary to be prepared. Preparing for a no-deal Brexit is about damage limitation, and a no-deal outcome may have serious implications across a number of sectors.

As part of the Government’s planning, legislation was enacted on 17 March 2019 which is focused on protecting our citizens and on supporting the economy and jobs, particularly in key economic sectors most exposed to Brexit, including Border communities. Anticipating and preparing for these possible impacts is a priority and the funding provided by my Department to build resilient communities across the country will become even more important in the event of a no-deal Brexit. My Department's focus continues to be on maintaining maximum flexibility in our programme of funding initiatives, to enable us to continue to support all communities and to target available funding to those economic sectors and geographic areas most in need.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I understand that the most emphasis has been placed on the eventuality of a no-deal Brexit. However, even if there is a deal, we need to recognise that we are in a very precarious situation, particularly people living in the Border regions. Many of those communities depend on the social economy. An awful lot of people do not have access to high-level employment with very high salaries. They live in communities where that kind of infrastructure is not in place and many of them depend on the community creating the jobs to sustain itself. To make that happen, we need to see a renewed emphasis on getting more funding in place for them. I recognise that the Department is running workshops to show people how they can apply for funding for community projects. This is welcome and good. There is one in Donegal in a couple of weeks. However, we need to see more money in place. The Minister talked about places that are not spending the money as rapidly as he would like or getting through things as quickly. Certainly the Border communities and the regions around the whole Border area have been very much to the fore in making sure they use any funding to which they have access and that they use it appropriately. I urge the Minister to put more money in place and to work with those communities to ensure they can deliver.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right. In my role as Minister for Rural and Community Development, community is probably the most important aspect. We have a number of community schemes. The Deputy is quite correct. A lot of people are employed in some of these community schemes and they are very important. That is why we have targeted all the schemes that we have such as the outdoor recreation scheme, the town and village scheme and the road regeneration scheme. The flexibility that I have in my Department is very important. I hope even at this late stage that we have a deal in Brexit but the Deputy is quite correct that even if we have a deal we will have problems. All I can say to him and to businesses around the Border area and around the whole country is that they have to be prepared. They have to be ready. At Government level we have put the legislation in place. We have done everything we can as a Government. At this late stage, I hope there will be a deal and I hope there will be a bit of common sense that the deal that is there will be accepted. The Deputy is right. The whole of Ireland is going to suffer and I do not want that to happen. I am hoping and I will be monitoring. That is why my Department is out there on a regular basis. We are doing the rural shows and we are also going to be lending a helping hand. We are going to be bringing in communities, telling them the schemes that we have and assisting them to fill out applications.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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While I appreciate that, what I am saying is that the Minister needs to have an additional focus and emphasis on the Border counties. About two months ago, we had people in from the Irish Central Border Area Network, ICBAN, and the other agencies around the Border. They are really animated about this situation because they see community groups all around the Border that have worked on a cross-Border relationship very well and have made great progress, many of which are related to farming businesses and the agricultural sector. They see huge problems coming down the line. They are saying that the only thing that is going to mitigate against this is money. The Government needs to put money in place to try to ensure that these communities can survive. While I appreciate that there are a whole lot of schemes, what we need to see is an additional helping hand, an additional way of ensuring that these communities will get additional resources. Many of them do not have their own resources. I will give an example. There is a community centre right beside me and it missed out on the first round of funding in LEADER to get the roof done and other projects that the community needed. It got into the second round of funding but it only got a small portion of the money it needed. People are going round in a community of 600 people trying to raise the rest of the money. It is practically impossible. There needs to be recognition that in many small rural communities there is not that emphasis on trying to raise the money themselves because they do not have the resources.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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That is why last month my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, announced that the EU Commission has agreed a tenfold increase in the rescue and restructuring scheme budget from €20 million to €200 million. The Minister, Deputy Creed, is having negotiations with Brussels on a regular basis and Commissioner Hogan has said that the EU is ready to respond if there is a no-deal situation. The Government is prepared. Our Ministers are working very hard. We can only do what is required when the time comes. The Ministers, Deputies Creed and Humphreys, and every Minister in government is monitoring. My Department is meeting the LEADER companies, the Western Development Commission, rural groups, the local action groups and the councils, to make sure to have them ready. In respect of funding, we can only deal with that situation when the time arises. We are ready now. We can only do what we can do. In my own Department, we talked about the LEADER programme as Deputy Calleary did and there will be many other questions about other programmes. I have a lot of schemes out there. My biggest problem as all Deputies know is to the get the local authorities and the communities to spend the money I have actually allocated.