Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas le gach Seanadóir as an díospóireacht seo agus as a dtuairimí.

I note there was a lot of emphasis on the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and I thank John Daly and everybody on the assembly for their work. It is a really useful piece of work and I thank them for it. I certainly engaged with it. There has also been a lot of reference to Cork issues, which my colleague in the Department, the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, is working on. Between us, he and I are very focused on every part of the Department's mandate, namely, rural affairs, community, cúrsaí Gaeltachta and development of them all.

There were some queries earlier about community groups. The actual record does not stand up to the charge in terms of the investments I have announced. Last Friday the Minister of State and I announced the local enhancement programme that was referenced by Senator Goldsboro. It is worth €7 million. We have announced the community recognition fund and the community centre investment fund, so we are investing in communities. We are investing in communities that are proactive and innovative and we certainly want to do more of that. We have a programme for Government commitment to reintroduce a very focused and precise RAPID scheme similar to the one that existed before the financial crash. That is something I am especially passionate about working with the Minister of State on.

Senator Ryan made the charge that rural communities are being managed into decline, which does not stand up to analysis at all. The CSO shows we had a 7% increase in the population of highly remote and rural areas between 2011 and 2022. The OECD is saying that between 2001 and 2021, the most rural regions in Ireland recorded the highest population growth among all OECD countries. That is independent analysis. However, we recognise that there are significant disparities within those trends. That is why I am currently revising and renewing all the CLÁR areas to ensure it becomes more targeted than maybe it has been in recent years. Once again I issue the invitation, or even challenge, to get on board with the renewal of Our Rural Future, to take part in the process that is under way, led by the Minister of State in Charleville last night and in Tullamore this evening - which is where I would be, except I wanted to be here - and the online discussions. I told the Cathaoirleach earlier I would like to see the Seanad get involved in it in a way that could be useful.

I assure Senator Conway that even though I am from Mayo, I had the privilege of visiting Waterford on many occasions in my last ministry and it is not quite the desert he has outlined. As Senator Kyne has already said, the North Quays project is extraordinary. That took massive commitment on the part of the Ministers of State, Deputies Butler and Cummins, to deliver. It is being delivered through the SDZ model in a really interesting combination of public and private partnership. That will transform Waterford city. There is investment in SETU, the cath lab and as we speak a new bridge is being put over the River Suir. It is very important we outline the challenges in all our communities and most have done that constructively. Let us not run down our communities. In focusing on the negatives, we must always remember every communication has an impact.

Senator Lynch made a really important point on the co-ordination of policies and I think we all agree on that. Many Senators have made proposals that cut across Government Departments. It is about how we co-ordinate all that work. The silos that get in the way of activity in so many areas are definitely getting in the way of balanced regional development. That is why I want to take a whole-of-government approach with Our Rural Future. That is one thing that is happening with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, in relation to the national development plan review that is under way. It will take a very comprehensive measure of projects in many of the areas that have been referred to in the House this evening.

Tá sé tábhachtach freisin go bhfuilimid dáiríre faoi chúrsaí Gaeltachta. Bhí an méid a dúirt an Seanadóirí Curley faoi chúram leanaí agus an Ghaeilge an-suimiúil. Beidh mé ag dul ar ais go dtí na hoifigigh faoi sin.

The western rail corridor has come up many times. We have to make that happen. Senator Murphy mentioned Ardrahan and the difference it has made there. That is a really good example of what this can do.

As to what Senator Tully said about tourism, there are so many areas that are in the same boat that are not found. It is about how we market them. We should learn from the example of the Wild Atlantic Way, which showed how a relatively simple idea can be pursued with co-ordinated investment. She also mentioned the challenges of the Border in the Cavan area. I have just come from a meeting about PEACEPLUS and how we make that more relevant, especially to communities on the ground. She mentioned some issues in Virginia.

I assure Senator Blaney that positive discrimination is very much something I sign up to. We have got to do that. If we get our offshore potential right, it is the game-changer we are all looking for. It is the cross-government game-changer and it will be delivered. It will be delivered with a planning system that is changed, that is more decisive and that is more predictable. Many Senators have referred to large infrastructure projects, many of which were delayed in planning. The system was bureaucratic and open to too many objections that were not coming from people who had a stake in the area. It is important we have a planning system that gives people a chance to object but which is predictable and has deadlines. Is é sin é an fáth a chuirim fáilte roimh an gcoimisiún pleanála atá le bunú amárach le cathaoirleach nua.

Senator Duffy referred to transport. I am very much on board with all those projects. His suggestions about supporting theatre appeal to an aspect of the regions we do not talk up enough: the richness of our culture. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach, go háirithe i gcomhthéacs na hintleachta saorga, AI, go gcosnóimid an cultúr sin agus go gcosnóimid ár gcúrsaí litríochta. In the context of AI, which I really think gives enormous opportunities, we also have to defend our culture and defend our writers. That is something we do with section 481.

Atlantic Technological University, which Senator Cosgrove mentioned, has been a fantastic example of progress and success. Orla Flynn and the team have done an extraordinary job in, as the Senator said, developing not only one campus but multiple ones. They have aligned the university with the regional enterprise priorities and we will continue to support them. On the revitalisation of town centres, when I visited Kildare with Senator O'Loughlin last year I was intrigued by one project in particular. Kildare LEO, under its super CEO Jacqui McNabb, rented space in a vacant unit for crafters, put the resources in place to develop it and put the expertise in place in terms of the layout of the shop and how the window looked. It gave talented craftspeople a space to sell their wares with a high-end presentation. It did all the business courses with them. Dereliction and rural industry were addressed. Later that day we went to look at a rural enterprise based in a traditional rural shop. A rural butcher had expanded into a supermarket, as many have, and used innovation and hard work to move into a prepared food line. Coming from a small rural shop, he provided opportunities for employment and really good food. It showed me what can be done in rural areas with the right support, thinking and commitment. It assured me that, in terms of rural Ireland, there is a way.

There are many questions on areas outside my remit but I will bring them back. I will come back to a point Senator Goldsboro made at the beginning. On 23 and 24 January and in the weeks after that, we saw the best of rural Ireland. Rural Ireland came together with an amazing sense of meitheal and common purpose to get neighbours, families and friends through Storm Éowyn and the damage it caused. We all have to learn the lessons of that and work is under way. We also need to remember that, within that challenge, rural Ireland came together. It used many facilities already there, including physical facilities such as community centres invested in by my Department and other Departments. CE, RSS and Tús workers came together to support communities at a horrific time and got communities through that time. That is the essence of rural and urban Ireland. If we have strong communities that are ambitious for themselves, we will be able to balance regional development. Communities with an idea and vision for themselves are exactly the kind of communities we want to partner with. We want to partner with local authorities on delivering projects that come from the local authority and, in turn, from the community, rather than us imposing grand, big projects on them. The challenge is to get those projects through the local authorities and into my Department in a way we can deliver them back. That takes a huge amount of work.

I thank every person who works in the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. Cuirim fáilte roimh na comhghleacaithe nua atá linn ó thaobh na Gaeilge le cúpla seachtain anois. I am determined that, when we come to the end of this term of government and my time in the Department, we will have made a difference and will have reflected the ambitious obvious in this Chamber and, more importantly, the ambition obvious across regional and rural Ireland. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.