Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, who is a frequent visitor to the House and usually has reasonably good news. I hope he will have good news on this occasion too.

The Minister of State will be aware that Rural Resettlement Ireland, a housing NGO that was begun by Mr. Jim Connolly in Kilbaha in west Clare, has been responsible for relocating hundreds of families from Dublin to towns and villages all over the country. The children of those families went to village schools and their children are now going to village schools. Many schools were able to keep extra teachers, certainly in the 1980s and early 1990s, because of the wonderful families from inner city Dublin who had difficulty in finding housing in Dublin and were welcomed with open arms in rural communities. There are dozens of such families in west Clare who have successfully relocated from Dublin.

I have been contacted by people in counties Leitrim and Mayo to ask why the scheme is not being promoted more, channelled or energised by the Government. My understanding is Rural Resettlement Ireland no longer receives State funding. Will the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government recommit to funding this concept? I have no doubt that many of the families who find themselves in the desperate position of being homeless in Dublin and who are living in bed and breakfast accommodation or hotel rooms would welcome the opportunity to relocate to a town or village that could do with the extra numbers because of depopulation. It is not the answer for everyone. Many people who find themselves in this situation want to stay in Dublin to be near their families and loved ones, but Government policy should support and facilitate those who wish to relocate to start a new life on another part of our great island. What are the views of the Minister of State on this? Has he committed funding for 2017 and 2018 to this organisation or other organisations which do similar work? Rural Resettlement Ireland has demonstrated it has worked well in the past and there is absolutely no reason such a scheme cannot work in future. This is my position on the matter. We need to think outside the box. We need to view the housing crisis as requiring an all-Ireland strategy. Where there are difficulties and challenges there are opportunities for other communities, villages, towns, GAA clubs and schools. It is not a Dublin, Cork or Limerick problem. It is an all-Ireland problem and there is an all-Ireland solution. I look forward to hearing the response of the Minister of State.