Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

25. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will report on her recent attendance at the Future Forum on Rural Development in Berlin. [8424/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Future Forum on Rural Development took place in Berlin on January 25-26. It is the largest national annual rural development conference in Germany, which each year features a partnership with another European country. I was delighted to accept the invitation for Ireland to be this year's partner.

The conference this year was aligned with Green Week in Berlin and thus had a climate theme. My Department hosted a panel discussion on Empowering Communities to Realise Their Climate Potential, which allowed Irish policymakers and practitioners to share their hugely powerful experiences. I also addressed the opening plenary session alongside German Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Rural Development Cem Ozdemir and Federal Minister for the Environment Steffi Lemke.

I was happy to share with colleagues the details of Our Rural Future and the ways in which we are enabling rural communities to develop their own pathways to a sustainable economic and environmental future, building on the extremely positive standing in which the policy, and Ireland's rural development investments and initiatives, are held internationally.

In addition to meeting with the German Federal Ministers, during my visit I was also able to hold very positive meetings with the chair of the Bundestag Committee on Food and Agriculture, Hermann Farber, and with the chair of the Bundestag Committee on Housing, Urban Development, Building and Local Government, Sandra Weeser.

During these meetings I discussed issues of mutual interest between Ireland and Germany, including addressing the cost of living crisis, opportunities arising from remote working and the digital transition, access to services, social cohesion in rural areas, and community participation.