Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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10. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the rural proofing strategy as set out in the Our Rural Future strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27704/22]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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My question seeks an update from the Minister on the rural-proofing strategy as promised in Our Rural Future.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Our Rural Future is the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural development in Ireland for decades. The policy contains more than 150 measures for delivery across the whole of Government, with the underlying theme of economic, environmental and societal sustainability.

The policy has a vision of ensuring vibrant and thriving rural towns and villages, with a key objective to maximise opportunities for individuals, communities and businesses in rural areas. It recognises that rural areas play an integral role in the economic, social and cultural recovery and well-being of the country.

The policy commits to developing an effective rural-proofing model. This will aim to ensure that all Departments fully consider the effects of new proposals on rural communities and the need to better target the particular challenges and opportunities facing rural areas.

Following a competitive tender process, my Department engaged independent consultants to fully examine the issue of rural-proofing in Ireland in order to provide a strong evidence basis for further action. Their work included consideration of rural-proofing initiatives internationally so as to inform our approach based on the experiences of others. The consultants have now provided my Department with their final report which will be given full and detailed consideration to determine the next steps. My objective is to deliver an effective, efficient and implementable rural-proofing model that will support rural policy development and ensure that we capitalise on the opportunities for rural areas to the greatest extent possible.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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It is welcome that the Minister has received that final report. Will it be published? The Minister said she will now consider it. How long does she think that will take? This is an important mechanism for rural communities and it is going to be particularly important as we face into measures that are going to have to be taken with regard to climate action because it is important that we bring rural communities with us. It is also important that the policies brought forward in respect of climate measures or otherwise across Departments consider rural communities and any impacts that may not necessarily be foreseen. It is important that all measures are examined through the lens of rural-proofing. That is why it is so important to get the mechanism right.

The Minister will be aware that rural-proofing is in place in the North of Ireland and works quite well. I presume that was one of the areas examined. Will the Minister give us a bit more information about the final report and if and when it will be published?

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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The Minister said that each local authority gets €400,000 to acquire old buildings. Cork is approximately four or five times the size of some other local authorities and yet each local authority gets the same amount. How is that decision made? A local authority with a fifth of the population gets the same amount. Is there not something unfair about that?

There is a proposal to locate State agencies in rural towns and villages. Has there been any movement or is there any news to report in that regard?

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Kerrane for her question on this interesting topic of which I was unaware. I am pleased to hear there is a policy brewing in this regard. It would be of great benefit to a great number of rural companies in the northern part of Fingal which have benefited from a great deal of investment in recent years. I am not sure how much joined-up thinking there has been with regard to those benefits. I would welcome the publication of the report the Minister has mentioned.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In response to Deputy Stanton, decentralisation is now by choice and is called remote working. That is the best decentralisation and it is working. That is the good news.

Deputy Kerrane raised the matter of the report on rural-proofing. I have only just received the report. I will fully consider the options presented in consultation with my officials and I will weigh up the merits and challenges of each option. As I have said, my objective is to ensure we have an effective, efficient and implementable rural-proofing model that will support rural policy development and will consider and capitalise on the opportunities for rural areas. It is important to remember that rural-proofing, as the Deputy said, is about making all Government policies more effective by ensuring the specific needs and opportunities in rural areas are taken into consideration as early as possible in the policy development process. That will ultimately lead to better outcomes for rural communities, which is what we all want, as Deputy Farrell said.