Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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99. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development her intended timeframe to implement an effective rural proofing model. [53599/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future is the most ambitious and transformational policy for rural development in Ireland for decades.

The policy contains more than 150 measures for delivery across the whole of Government, with the underlying theme of economic, environmental and societal sustainability.

The policy has a vision of ensuring vibrant and thriving rural towns and villages, with a key objective to maximise opportunities for individuals, communities and businesses in rural areas. It recognises that rural areas play an integral role in the economic, social and cultural recovery and well-being of the country.

The policy commits to developing an effective rural proofing model within the lifetime of the policy. This will aim to ensure that all departments fully consider the effects of new proposals on rural communities and the need to better target the particular challenges and opportunities facing rural areas.

Following a competitive tender process, my Department engaged independent consultants to fully examine the issue of rural proofing in Ireland in order to provide a strong evidence basis for further action. Their work included consideration of rural proofing initiatives internationally so as to inform our approach based on the experiences of others.

My Department also recently hosted the 13th OECD International Rural Development Conference, in collaboration with our OECD partners. This event provided a further valuable insight into how the challenge of rural proofing is being addresses in other countries.

To develop a rural proofing model that is effective, it must be seen as a valuable tool to support the objectives of multiple government Departments and not just the Department responsible for rural development. It must be focused on delivering positive outcomes for rural communities and the achievement of Government objectives.

It is planned to pilot a new model of rural proofing that will move away from the traditional view of being solely about addressing disadvantage and exclusion in rural areas, to one that views rural proofing as an aid to support good policy making and to identify how rural areas can contribute to the achievement of policy objectives and priorities across Government.

My Department is now in consultation with a number of Government Departments to take part in piloting this new approach. It is important that this pilot approach provides clear insights and lessons to underpin the development of a model that is effective and implementable.

My overarching objective is to ensure that we can deliver an effective, efficient and implementable rural proofing model that will support rural development and ensure that we maximise the opportunities for rural areas to the greatest extent possible.