Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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605. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the progress made with the implementation of the action plan for rural development to date; and when the next progress report will issue. [3081/19]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Progress Reports on the implementation of the Action Plan for Rural Development are published twice a year on my Department's website, www.drcd.gov.ie. The most recent, Third Progress Report, was published in November 2018 and outlines the progress which took place in relation to all actions due for delivery between January 2018 and June 2018, or which are being implemented on an ongoing basis over the course of the three year Action Plan.

Of the 275 actions reported on in the latest report, 266 had been completed or were substantially advanced.  A number of case studies also feature in the Third Progress Report, which illustrate the positive impact the actions being delivered are having on rural communities. 

The coordinated, whole-of-Government approach of the Action Plan is achieving results in terms of increased employment in the regions and increased investment in projects and communities across the country. Since 2015, there has been an increase of over 163,000 in the number of people employed in regions outside of Dublin, surpassing the Government’s target of 135,000 by 2020.  We are also seeing increased employment in the hospitality sector from the promotion of tourist attractions and investment in greenways and blueways.

My Department is in the process of compiling the Fourth Progress Report on the Action Plan for Rural Development, which will report on the delivery of measures in the second half of 2018. It is envisaged the report will be circulated to the Monitoring Committee which oversees the Action Plan in the first quarter of this year, for consideration and subsequent publication.