Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the pupils in the Gallery. I am not sure what school they are in but they all very welcome to the Seanad Chamber. It is fantastic to have schools visit these Houses.

I thank Senator Boyhan for his question and for citing the example of Kilkenny. He is correct. It is a very good example but we always do things well in Kilkenny, as he would know well. Rural nodes are the lowest tier in the settlement hierarchy and comprise a cluster of developments where public wastewater and-or public water infrastructure is currently not provided. These nodes contain important services, including schools and community facilities supporting the surrounding rural area. Rural nodes are designated for small-scale limited development at a sustainable scale for immediate local need, including one-off housing for persons who comply with the local need criteria, local services, small-scale employment and community facilities. The Senator may be aware the development of rural nodes is subject to proper planning considerations and the environmental carrying capacity of an area.

Consideration of planning applications for development within such nodes will have regard to the role and form of the node within the wider rural area with particular care being taken that these settlements do not compete with the designated larger and smaller serviced villages in the services they provide or the role and function they play within the rural area.

As part of Housing for all, the Government is committed to developing Croí Cónaithe, towns, which will provide funding for local authorities to provide serviced sites with appropriate infrastructure to attract people to build their own homes and live in small towns and villages. It is expected that this fund will be announced shortly. In tandem with this, Irish Water is providing funding for the servicing of many towns and villages, and further funding initiatives are available through the Department of Rural and Community Development. In particular, further rounds of funding under the rural regeneration and development fund are scheduled for later this year and early in 2023. Under this fund, applicants need to provide a comprehensive business case as part of any application. Any application relating to a rural node to be located in a town or village would need to provide clear evidence of the need and level of demand in an area and the growth potential which the project will meet. I am satisfied that through these range of schemes there are potential sources of funding for the sustainable development of rural locations.

I agree with what the Senator said. There are many across the country, particularly in the west, that are in rural decline. Very vibrant communities live in some of the rural locations he outlined in County Kilkenny. They are being allowed to expand in line with the carrying capacity of waterways, water infrastructure and local infrastructure. Our local authority has done very well in ensuring these communities can remain vibrant through funding schemes such as the town and village renewal scheme and other schemes to help support them and keep rural schools, rural post offices etc. open. The challenge is to strike a balance to ensure we get capacity in our towns for them to grow to a level where public transport and walking and cycling routes to school are viable for communities. However, we must also be strategic in addressing rural areas whose populations are is decline and that will be evident shortly from the census figures. Local authorities need to be strategic in trying to ensure we can repopulate those areas and keep those communities vibrant. We need people living in rural Ireland. That is something to which the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has been deeply committed throughout his tenure as the Minister of State with responsibility for planning and local government.

In summary, there is no doubt it is a significant challenge. It is not always enticing for people to live in rural areas. It requires a significant level of commitment to be become part of a local community, part of a local GAA club or to send one's children to the local schools. That is important but it is also important we have a suite of policies at our level and at local government level to support rural communities to grow and to prosper.