Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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236. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her Department has received notification of a proposal from Donegal County Council to establish an emergency deprivation task force, consisting of various State agencies and Departments dedicated to the development of the Donegal Gaeltacht region; her views on the proposal of the local authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47461/18]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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238. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she has received notification of a proposal from Donegal County Council to establish an emergency deprivation task force, consisting of various State agencies and Departments, dedicated to the development of the Donegal Gaeltacht region; if her Department has to date responded to the proposal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47507/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 236 and 238 together.

I understand that the matter of establishing a task force, as outlined by the Deputy, was discussed at length at a meeting of Donegal Council in January of this year, on foot of a motion submitted. However, at this point in time, no notification regarding the establishment of the task force has been received either by my Department or by Údarás na Gaeltachta from Donegal County Council.

The establishment of a task force would require careful consideration. The Terms of Reference for such a task force would need to be clearly set out in advance, which would include such issues as the status of the task force, its reporting relationship into the relevant Government departments and agencies taking part and the servicing of same.

I should point out, however, that Údarás na Gaeltachta established an inter-agency working group in April 2014 to assess and propose solutions to mitigate against job losses in the Gaoth Dobhair area at that time. That working group prepared a report and action plan with the overall objective of creating 300 new jobs in the Gaoth Dobhair Business Park over the 3-year period of the action plan.

A report on the implementation of the 5 key recommendations contained in the action plan was published on 31 May 2018 and is available Údarás na Gaeltachta's website:

Needless to say, any such notification referred to by the Deputy, if and when received, will be carefully considered by both my Department and Údarás na Gaeltachta.