Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs his plans to tackle the growing problem of rural isolation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39291/10]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to ensuring the economic and social well being of rural communities and to providing the conditions for a meaningful and fulfilling life for all rural dwellers, as part of our key priorities in building an inclusive society and combating poverty. My Department undertakes a range of actions that work to address rural isolation and related social exclusion issues, as well as encouraging and promoting employment and community activity and participation. These include:

- The Local and Community Development Programme, which specifically supports individuals into employment and self-employment through education, training, work experience, job placement, enterprise and the social economy in urban and rural areas;

- The CLÁR Programme, which provides co-funding to help accelerate investment in selected priority developments in areas that have suffered significant depopulation;

- The RAPID Programme, which, through its focus on deprivation and social exclusion, seeks to address the impact of the economic downturn on vulnerable communities and to provide opportunities for social and economic recovery;

- The Seniors Alert Scheme, which is based on the concept of contact with people at local level. Funding is provided to local community and voluntary organisations to assist and stimulate broader community support for older people, specifically through a community-based grant scheme to improve the security of its older members; and

- A specific 'Social Initiative Scheme', which we are currently working on with the GAA, which aims to build a social network for older men. As the Deputy may be aware, this initiative has developed from a forum hosted by President McAleese and I am keen to assist it as an example of a community-focussed response to rural isolation.

My Department also initiated the Rural Social Scheme, which transferred recently to the Department of Social Protection. One of its identified benefits has been tackling rural isolation amongst the part-time farmer and fisherpersons who participate in the Scheme. The €425m Rural Development Programme 2007-13 aims to improve the quality of life in rural areas and promote the diversification of the rural economy. Projects funded through the programme have a diverse range of impacts and can directly and indirectly influence the issues of social exclusion and rural isolation. For example, this year the Local Action Group that implements the programme on my Department's behalf in Co. Clare funded research entitled 'The future of Technology in Addressing the Social Exclusion and Isolation of Older Persons, and their Carers in Co Clare'. Examining rural isolation in the context of how technology can support isolated members of rural communities is an innovative way of looking at a common problem and is the type of analysis promoted and encouraged explicitly by the programme