Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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203. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the report by the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19012/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The Minister and I are fully committed to supporting the development of rural Ireland and in this regard, we are also committed to advancing the implementation of the CEDRA Report recommendations and to ensuring that national and local systems and programmes facilitate and support rural development and rural communities. To facilitate this agenda, I established the CEDRA Interdepartmental Group (IDG), comprising senior representatives of all relevant Government Departments. As Chair of that Group, I am working to ensure that the work that is being progressed across Government Departments has a rural focus and reflects the challenges and issues facing rural Ireland.

The IDG, which is made up of representative s from all relevant Government Departments , is currently working in a coordinated way to ensure thateach Department’s policy development and implementation fully considers the needs of rural communities. In this context, it is about maximising the financial resources already available for rural development and ensuring that these resources are directed in a way that best supports the sustainable economic development of rural areas.

In addition to this, both Minister Kelly and I have indicated recently that we intend to advance the implementation of recommendation 1 of the CEDRA Report, which calls for the development of a Rural Policy Statement. Work on this will begin shortly and I am confident that this will provide a framework to ensure that due consideration is given to the challenges and issues facing rural communities and will support the alignment of policy design and implementation frameworks.

In order to maintain strong links with people in rural Ireland who are involved in or have a strong interest in the economic development of rural areas and communities, the Minister and I have recently established an Expert Advisory Group to monitor progress and provide advice in respect of the implementation of the recommendations in the CEDRA report. This group, which is chaired by Mr. Pat Spillane and met for the first time recently, is looking at the CEDRA recommendations with a view to offering advice regarding priority actions to support the implementation process.

€1 million was allocated in the Budget for 2015 to establish a Rural Innovation and Development fund in line with CEDRA recommendations to support innovative, small scale pilot initiatives. Agreement has been reached on the types of projects to be supported under this scheme and a call for proposals for some elements will issue shortly.

Work is also advancing on the establishment of a Rural Economic Development Zone (REDZ) pilot scheme and an amount of €2million is being made available to support the implementation of this pilot. I expect to announce the details of this pilot shortly. A further €5million has also been provided for an expanded REDZ scheme under the LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme and I am confident that the learning from the pilot will allow us to progress that in early 2016.

It should be noted that significant progress has already been made in terms of implementing the recommendations of the CEDRA Report and this will continue through the work of the IDG over the coming period.