Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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65. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he is aware of recent media reports from GAA clubs about their concern regarding the decline in population in rural Ireland; the impacts this has on the clubs; if he plans to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26571/25]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I listened very carefully to a recent report on the "This Week" programme from reporter Peter O'Connell. He referenced rural decline and depopulation and linked it specifically to a number of GAA clubs in the west of Ireland. One was St. Senan's in Kilkee. I note the chairperson, Diarmuid Keane, referenced that rural towns need significant Government aid if they are to continue to be viable. I want to hear the plans of the Minister in that regard.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. I heard the report and have seen the work done by many county boards across the country, led by the uachtarán of the GAA. I am very much aware that the GAA works in communities locally and nationally to address this challenge, through its national demographics committee and each county demographic officer. As I said, Our Rural Future contains a wide range of measures that will ensure all rural areas are attractive and viable places for people to study, live, work and raise their families.

Our Rural Future has had a number of significant funding investments in recent years, namely, the rural regeneration and development fund, the town and village renewal scheme and the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme. The ethos of these schemes is to put facilities into the kinds of small towns and communities the Deputy referenced. Through Our Rural Future, many GAA clubs have become involved in the consultation process that is under way. I will extend an invitation to the national demographics committee of the GAA to meet me with its proposals from clubs across the country. We are currently involved in public consultations and we have just finished an online consultation in that regard.

In recent years, we have invested in the national broadband plan. We have made improvements in rural transport, something I have discussed with Deputy Wall, and we want to continue to do that. Through initiatives under, for example, the community recognition fund, we have made substantial investment in facilities in GAA clubs to make them even more attractive. I am focused on working with clubs and an organisation that has a presence in every parish. It has a contact system that very few other organisations have.

I am aware that in many areas we need a targeted approach. Some areas are doing well, but others are not. There was a 7% increase in population across the country between 2011 and 2022, but other areas show a large decline. I want to focus on that. While Our Rural Future is a broad document, I will also look for focused responses.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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It is the job of the Minister to treat us to the greatest hits of his Government and all of the rest, but in truth the statistics and facts speak for themselves. The situation was laid out very clearly for us in the RTÉ report. St. Senan's in Kilkee last reached a county final in 2009, when it had 52 adult players on its senior and junior teams. In 2025, the club now has access to at most 23 adult players for the junior team, while at underage level it has been amalgamated with two clubs immediately to the west of it, O'Curry's and Naomh Eoin, but it is still struggling.

When an organisation like the GAA is coming together to highlight an issue like this, I am glad the Minister is listening, but we want action and not just listening. The GAA has highlighted issues like access to remote working. We could be here all day. From his previous brief the Minister will know a complete bags was made out of the right to remote working. The legislation has left people without that right. Access to remote working is one way to address this issue. An increase in funding for the LEADER programme and a reversal of the cuts imposed during austerity are required because funding has not caught up. There is work to be done in the here and now, but the Minister also needs to examine the historical damage done and rectify it in order that rural communities will be in a position to survive.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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We can all quote facts. There is a challenge, and I know the challenge in my county. Nevertheless, the CSO figures show a 7% increase in population in highly remote areas between 2011 and 2022. The OECD figures show that many rural and remote areas in Ireland showed some of the highest population growths between 2001 and 2021 within the OECD. I accept that within those figures, there are anomalies and we need to focus on the reasons.

We cannot ignore the investment that is happening through the rural regeneration and development fund, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and the town and village renewal scheme. In particular, the town and village renewal scheme has an element for local authorities to involve GAA clubs, which are in many cases the drivers as well as the identity point for many rural communities. I will work with the uachtarán of the GAA and the national demographics committee as we frame a new rural future. I also encourage local clubs to work and participate in the consultation process, in particular those facing challenges.

I look forward to inviting people to the national youth assembly on rural development because it is young people who are at the heart of many of these clubs. That meeting will take place at the end of September 2025 and will be part of the Our Rural Future consultation. I look forward to many GAA clubs sending delegates to that.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I am sure they will because this is an issue about which they have become incredibly exercised, and for good reason. I am using St. Senan's as an example because it was the club that was highlighted in the RTÉ report, but in the immediate surrounding areas 66% of the houses are holiday homes. When a house comes onto the market, young people who might want to stay in the area and are interested in playing GAA or providing a few players for a team in the future are being outbid by people who are coming into the area. I know that in the Minister's county, an innovative suggestion was made regarding holiday homes. I would be interested in knowing what he might have to say about that.

It seems like rural communities are up against it all the time. As I said, they are still trying to make up the deficit because they were creased during the austerity years and that funding has not been made up. As well as increasing funding to the LEADER programme, there needs to be a real and sustained focus on social and affordable homes for working people to rent and buy. At the moment, it feels like the market is very cruel and very much against young people who might want to buy a home and establish themselves in a rural community.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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We had a discussion on this with an Teachta McGuinness in our first question. We will work with the Minister, Deputy James Browne, on a range of initiatives on rural housing and increasing supply through local authorities, which have been asked to supply more land through the vacant homes scheme, which is opening up closed-up communities in many rural areas. In May 2024, my Department announced €164 million in funding for regenerating rural communities the length and breadth of Ireland and €20 million for the town and village renewal scheme. That is investment that is going into communities as we speak, including the smallest communities. Some €100 million through the community recognition fund is supporting many GAA clubs in improving the quality of their facilities.

The Deputy spoke about remote working. We are supporting broadband connection points across the country, a major investment on the part of my Department in addition to the national broadband funding. Through Roinn na Gaeltachta, táimid ag cuidiú leis an údarás chun na haonaid Gteic a bhunú, the specific broadband hubs for Celtic areas, Gteic.

There is a huge range of initiatives to invest in facilities. We have very much turned the corner on what the Deputy called austerity cuts by investing in rural communities. We are making major capital investments and increasing facilities. I am very focused on housing in rural communities as well.