Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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69. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the strategies being implemented to combat rural isolation, especially among the elderly population; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25971/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of rural isolation, especially among the elderly, is relevant to the work of several Government Departments. It is a complex issue and can undermine the physical and mental well-being of people in both rural and urban settings. Loneliness requires a wide range of responses, including health interventions, community policing, rural transport, which we discussed earlier, tackling social exclusion and addressing disadvantage.

Our Rural Future is my Department’s whole-of-government strategy for rural development with actions to support rural communities, including addressing rural isolation. Within my Department, this issue is also addressed by the sustainable, inclusive and empowered communities strategy. Both strategies are underpinned by funding through the rural investment programme and community development programme, the latter of which supports projects and schemes across both rural and urban communities.

My Department provides financial and other supports to organisations throughout the country to address rural and urban isolation, including through the seniors alert scheme, which provides monitored personal alarms for elderly people; the community services programme, which supports a range of services, including meals on wheels; the local enhancement programme, which supports a huge variety of community groups, including social clubs, sports groups and local choirs; and support for men’s and women’s sheds, which provide a community setting for men and women to come together to learn, share skills, make friendships and break the cycle of isolation.

These and a range of other supports, including those which help community centres and community facilities with capital investment, are aimed at helping to ensure communities are inclusive places to live in and are equipped to reduce social isolation and loneliness.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I acknowledge the valuable progress made through initiatives, such as the Local Link service which has provided vital transport connectivity for rural communities and older people in particular.

Rural ageing, however, must be placed more centrally within the Minister's Department agenda. Rural Ireland is ageing at a faster rate than urban centres and while transport is critical, it is only one part of the picture. We need an integrated strategy that addresses rural housing, access to health services, digital skills and opportunities for social participation.

Will the Minister's Department consider the development of a targeted rural ageing strategy to ensure older people in rural communities can age with dignity, independence and meaningful connection to the places they call home?

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy makes a good suggestion and we will certainly look at it. The potential in the new Our Rural Future document is there to highlight rural isolation and what is happening. I encourage Deputy McCormack to attend the new in-person public consultation event on 17 June in Tullamore for Our Rural Future.

As I said, we have a range of schemes and there are schemes within the Department. For instance, the community centre investment scheme, which is not specifically an isolation or older persons intervention, provides a physical structure communities can use to build programmes and plans to get people into it. Through community centre investment, we were able to allocate €100,000 for Mucklagh community centre and €89,000 for Kilcormac community centre. As I said, the CLÁR programme is currently open. This will target rural areas experiencing decline, including transport provision and funding organisations to acquire buses to bring people into centres or to deliver meals to people.

We will definitely be looking at a specific isolation and elderly strategy because the Deputy is absolutely right that our figures are increasing but there is flexibility within all our programmes.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Following up on this, I wish to highlight the decline of rural services such as shops, post offices and pubs has done more than hurt the local economy. It has deeply affected the social fabric of rural life. These were not just businesses but gathering points and places where older people in particular had a chance to interact, feel valued and maintain a sense of belonging. This role has now largely fallen to local GAA and the church which do commendable work but it is simply not enough.

Rural isolation is real and we must be honest: it is a public health issue that costs lives every day. Will the Department consider incentivising the operation of small rural shops and services that act as social hubs for the community? We need to think creatively and act decisively if we are serious about protecting rural life and supporting our ageing population.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Deputy McCormack for bringing this up because it is an issue very close to my heart and one I have been considering for a while. I had the opportunity to meet with the Irish Postmasters' Union yesterday morning. Speaking to it, a topic that came up was the impact and availability of the post office network, particularly in rural Ireland, to offset some of that exclusion and isolation that happens to all sorts of people living in rural communities but particularly older people.

I know there is a Minister of State with responsibility for older people and this cuts across a number of Departments but is this something the Minister might raise in his discussions with colleagues in government, namely, a concerted strategy which looks at the post office network, the Local Link transport network, the voluntary and community network, including in my area of west Waterford, mental health awareness, the daycare centre networks, meals on wheels and the men's and women's sheds? In my area of Tallow, Cappoquin, Lismore, Dungarvan and Portlaw, this could come together in localised strategies to combat isolation, particularly among older people in rural Ireland.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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There is nothing I disagree with in either Deputies approach. I met the postmasters last week and the post office report is a very solid report. It is not only about the post office but about the postmen and postwomen who go out to communities and houses. For many people, this is the only contact they may have, and let us be realistic about it.

As I said, through the community services programme, we are supporting many organisations across the country, including in Waterford and Offaly, that are driving meals on wheels, which is again human interaction. We are working to support our men's sheds and the growing number of women's sheds, but men's sheds in particular because they are focused on older men or men who have retired and getting them into a group gathering. The men's shed movement has done huge work, particularly in targeting rural isolation among older men. Everyone in this Chamber at present is a rural TD and we know that is a challenge. I thank the men's sheds for doing that.

Regarding Local Link, 148 new services have been progressed by the National Transport Authority, NTA, in recent years, connecting 190 towns and villages to the bigger public transport network. That connection was not there previously. As I said, through CLÁR, we are funding specific interventions on transport to allow for meals on wheels, community organisations and medical transport across the country, which are making a big difference.

There is much work under way in different strands. We might need to tidy it all up and look at how it is addressing rural isolation and loneliness.