Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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297. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 48 of 7 March 2017, if the monitoring committee has been established; if not, the reason for the delay in its establishment; when its establishment is expected; the names and posts of the members of the committee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14953/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Monitoring Committee for the Action Plan for Rural Development has been established and held its first meeting on 23 March 2017. The membership of the Monitoring Committee, which I myself chair, includes senior representatives from key Government Departments and agencies, other public bodies and rural stakeholders, as well as representatives from the business community.

The role of the Monitoring Committee is to monitor progress on all of the commitments in the Action Plan for Rural Development on an on-going basis and to identify solutions to any potential obstacles to the delivery of the Action Plan.

The Committee will also identify examples of best practice emerging from the Action Plan and determine how best these practices could be replicated across rural communities.

The next meeting of the Committee will take place in July, at which the Committee will consider a Progress Report on the implementation of actions for delivery in the first half of this year.

The membership of the Committee is as follows -

Monitoring Committee for the Action Plan for Rural Development

Chair and Vice-Chair

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Heather Humphreys, T.D.) (Chair)

Minister of State for Regional Economic Development (Michael Ring, T.D.) (Vice-Chair)

Government Departments

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Department of Education and Skills

Department of Housing, Planning Community and Local Government

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Department of Justice and Equality

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Department of Health

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Department of Social Protection

Department of An Taoiseach

Office of Public Works

Public bodies

Arts Council

Enterprise Ireland

Fáilte Ireland

County & City Managers Association

Regional Assemblies

Údarás na Gaeltachta

Western Development Commission

Teagasc

Rural Stakeholders

Pat Spillane (Ambassador for the Action Plan)

Irish Rural Link

Irish Farmers Association

Macra na Feirme

Irish Countrywomen's Association

Representative from Fisheries Local Action Groups

Irish Local Development Network

Rural Development research expert

GAA

Young rural entrepreneur

Rural Social Enterprise representative

Business Community

Chambers Ireland

IBEC

ISME

Irish League of Credit Unions

Secretariat

Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs