Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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498. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to move the responsibility for the rural social scheme, RSS, to another Department; if she or her officials have had or are having discussions on the issue; if so, the status of the discussions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49042/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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In early 2019, the Government agreed to establish an Interdepartmental Group (IDG) to explore the most appropriate organisation arrangements to include social inclusion schemes including the Rural Social Scheme (RSS).

A series of meetings of the IDG have taken place and a number of bilateral meetings were undertaken with the relevant Departments with included discussions on the rural social scheme. In addition to this, written submissions were received from key stakeholders and community groups. All submissions received were considered as part of the deliberation process. The final report of the IDG is expected to be available shortly.

The priority for my Department is to ensure that all employment programmes and incentives including RSS will be focused, targeted and suitable for the needs of low income farmers and fishermen into the future.