Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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56. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the work of the Action Plan for Rural Development specifically relating to the rollout of broadband and the revitalisation of towns and villages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1781/18]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Rural Development was published in January 2017 and contains 276 actions for delivery across a range of Government Departments, State agencies and other organisations to support the economic and social progress of rural Ireland. 

One of the key objectives of the Action Plan is to bring high speed broadband to every premises in Ireland through the roll out of the National Broadband Plan. While the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has overall responsibility for the National Broadband Plan, my Department is working closely with Local Authorities and other relevant bodies to prepare for the roll out of high speed broadband by identifying and resolving any local issues that might impact on the delivery of the necessary infrastructure. 

My Department, through Minister Kyne, also co-chairs an Implementation Group with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, to oversee 40 actions arising from the report of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce aimed at improving broadband and mobile phone coverage in the short-term.  Quarterly Progress Reports on the Implementation Group's work are available on my Department's website.

The revitalisation of our rural towns and villages is also a key objective of the Action Plan for Rural Development.  My Department has a number of initiatives in place which support this objective, including the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, the CLÁR Programme and the TidyTowns competition.

Since the launch of the Action Plan in January 2017 I have funded a wide range of projects under these initiatives, including 281 projects under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, with a total investment of €21.6 million being made over the next 15 months.  The CLÁR programme provided funding of €7 million in 2017 for 231 projects, while I allocated €1.4 million to TidyTowns Committees throughout the country to mark the 60^thanniversary of the competition in 2018.

The second half-yearly Progress Report on the implementation of all of the measures in the Action Plan for Rural Development is currently being prepared by my Department and will be published shortly.