Imelda Goldsboro (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive report. It is great to hear about the different developments. The 2022 census shows, for the first time, population growth throughout all counties. The number of people in employment has increased across the country. This growth comes with both challenges and opportunities.

The Government is committed to balanced regional development. We recognise that the needs and wants of the population can be better fulfilled through more dispersed growth across Ireland. The nationwide roll-out of high-speed broadband and the increase in remote working hubs give people opportunities to work in the communities in which they grew up. We understand and recognise the distinct needs of, and opportunities that exist in, rural Ireland. Meeting those needs and opportunities must be at the heart of the decision-making process.

Through initiatives and investment, we are fostering regional enterprise growth, supporting rural regeneration and ensuring local communities are supported to make their towns, villages and parishes thriving places in which to live, work and raise a family. Last week, the Minister announced funding of more than €7 million for the local enhancement programme. That scheme has had a significantly positive impact on many communities and small organisations run by volunteers. For that we thank him.

The Minister referred to a number of key achievements. His Department continues to work with towns and villages to ensure renewal and revitalisation. We see the growth that is bringing, along with the changes, enhancements and development to rural areas. Funding is coming into rural communities for broadband and other services. It is all about linkage and connectivity, including by way of the community hubs. The Minister talked about unlocking new opportunities in rural communities and utilising the hubs as a solution for meeting community needs. We all saw the impact of the storms some months ago on our cities, towns and villages. Significant development has gone into those communities. The Department was the go-to in times of emergencies, when so many people were without water and power.

Job creation is part of regional development. Important work is being done with IDA Ireland to spread foreign direct investment across the country and ensure at least half of IDA investments are located outside Dublin. The Government is prioritising locating new State agencies in cities and towns outside Dublin. The Government continues to advance a balanced approach to regional development, cognisant that the European Commission has identified the north west as requiring additional support. I shall now turn to our town centres and tackling vacancy and the regeneration of our towns and villages. We see this in our towns and villages. In the village of Ballingarry, where I am from, 75% of the houses on our main street are, unfortunately, up for sale. We can see how it is dwindling. We note the significant impact that the croí cónaithe grant has brought into play and what it has done for rural areas, but much more needs to be done. This I appreciate when we work with our councils through the different schemes such as the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, and the town and village renewal scheme, and to see how we can revitalise and rejuvenate those villages. As we know, the demise our villages is a concern. People's buying patterns are changing and lots of rural businesses are diminishing. I note that we are proposing to have an above-the-shop grant specifically to convert premises in rural towns for residential use in recognition of the additional complexities involved in renovating these spaces.

The work on the development and retention of community-run shops and cafes is a significant factor in our rural areas. We have a number of community cafés in Tipperary that are run by volunteers and the service they are providing in rural areas is phenomenal. They bring communities together to a central hub where people can talk, where they are socially included, and the service is where they can get a breakfast and have a chat and meet somebody. It is about social inclusion in rural areas. I ask the Minister, Deputy Calleary, if funding can be provided for community cafés. All our community cafés are facing the challenge of high energy costs right now. The service is priceless for our communities. The loss of that service would be detrimental for some rural communities because it is a lifeline for so many people.

The Minister also emphasised transport, the funding that has gone into transport, the progress in all the key areas of public infrastructure that we are making and the national development plan. We need to increase the provision of Local Link services in our rural areas to better connect the villages, towns and cities. We need to continue the roll-out of Connecting Ireland and investment in new town buses, to expand the bus services in cities and to continue to strengthen local urban towns. Some of our villages have seen the positive impact of these services but, unfortunately, more work needs to be done. Some of our villages do not have any public transport and they do not have taxis. It would join the villages and communities together to allow them to get supports and services. Continued investment in Connecting Ireland through our services and the TFI Local Link networks is having a positive impact. The funding has been administered and we can see the areas that are benefiting from it. I know that our rail-connected rural communities are going to benefit from the increased levels of investment being made to support steady-state levels of maintenance and renewal.

With regard to tourism, one of Ireland's greatest strengths is its stunning natural amenities. Every county, town and village has its own unique natural assets, whether it is our forest parks, mountain trails, rivers, greenways, bogs or beaches. We have already seen the huge economic benefits that the investment in the greenway projects has delivered for our local towns and villages. As we speak here this evening I am proud to say that we opened the beautiful Littleton Labyrinth this afternoon in Tipperary. We thank the Government for the funding for the project and we can see what it has done for this rural area. Phase one has been completed and we are awaiting more funding. We look forward to people using it. The car parks are filled from morning to evening. It is a phenomenal success.

Fáilte Ireland's four regional strategies for the Wild Atlantic Way, the Ancient East, the Hidden Heartlands and Dublin provide a framework for sustainable tourism right across Ireland. Working with Fáilte Ireland to develop a balanced regional spread of tourism throughout the country, further advancing the experience, developing more blueway projects across the country and continuing to invest in key regional tourism projects under the RRDF is what we need. Through the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme there has been investment in walkways, cycle ways, tidal pools and other amenities at local level. I am sure that all of us here have seen the benefits at local level in our counties and have seen what it has done for our areas. There is also work with Coillte to continue to invest in upgrades of visitor amenities at forest parks across the country.

The Minister spoke of the Gaeltacht and its importance. Irish is a unique part of our heritage and the Government is committed to the protection and promotion of the Irish language. It is the first language of our State. We will be putting in place targeted measures and we have done great work with Údarás na Gaeltachta and other stakeholders to ensure adequate provision of housing and community services in Gaeltacht communities.

The Our Living Islands plan, launched in 2023, was the first such policy to be published in 27 years. It is an ambitious strategy underpinned by an action plan. The action plan consists of 80 new time-bound actions to be implemented by the various stakeholders and led by the relevant Government Department or State agency. We have established the positivities of all these changes and the benefits they have had to our communities. We thank the Minister for coming here this evening, for the work that he has delivered and the funding to date for our communities.