Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Each year my Department produces an Annual Report which provides a comprehensive overview of the wide range of policies, programmes and initiatives developed and delivered by the Department in the previous year. These reports are available at: www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-rural-and-community-development/

The 2023 Annual Report will most likely be published in Quarter 3 of 2024.

Our most recent Statement of Strategy was published in August 2023, and this sets out the Department's mission as “to promote and support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland”. The Department has two overarching policies which support delivery of this mission, firstly, Our Rural Futurethe Government's Rural Development Policy for 2021-2025, and secondly Sustainable Inclusive and Empowered Communities, the 5 year strategy (for the period 2019-2024) to support the community and voluntary sector in Ireland.

The very successful ongoing implementation of Our Rural Futurein 2023 has been a significant achievement of the Department. The rural development investment programme continues to support investment throughout rural Ireland by delivering schemes including the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, the LEADER Programme, Town and Village Renewal, the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme and the CLÁR Programme. Furthermore, policies and strategies which form part of Our Rural Future, including the Towns Centre First Strategy and the National Outdoor Recreation Strategy continue to be successfully implemented.

Of particular note is the publication of the new national islands policy, Our Living Islands, which was published in June 2023. It is the first whole-of-Government policy for the islands to be published in 27 years. It is an ambitious ten year national policy designed to support sustainable island communities and is accompanied by an Action Plan for the period 2023-2026. The Action Plan consists of 80 new time-bound actions agreed with and to be implemented by various stakeholders, led by a nominated Government Department or State Agency.

Cross Government implementation of Our Rural Futureis also progressing very well. Progress updates are published every six months and a specific work programme is developed for each year of the policy.

With regard to the Community Development area in 2023, key funding programmes including the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP), the Community Services Programme (CSP) and the Community Centre Investment Fund (CCIF) have been successfully delivered by the Department. Once-off funding measures to help support the response for Ukrainian refugees, and the communities they are settling in, have also been successfully delivered. For example, €10 million was made available to the SICAP programme to ensure supports for Ukrainian refugees as they settle in communities throughout the country. 2023 also saw approval of €50 million in funding for projects under the Community Recognition Fund. This fund is supporting the development of community infrastructure and facilities in recognition of the contribution being made by communities across the country in welcoming and hosting significant numbers of arrivals from Ukraine and other countries

2023 has also seen ongoing implementation of existing polices which support Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, including the National Volunteering Strategy and the National Social Enterprise Strategy. Furthermore, the new National Public Library Strategy 2023-2026 was published in July 2023. More recently, in November, the Dormant Accounts Action Plan 2024 was published, setting out the measures across Government that will be funded from the Dormant Accounts fund in 2024.

Also in November, at the 5^thNational Social Enterprise Conference, I, along with the Secretary General of the OECD, launched a report commissioned by my Department on the implementation of our social enterprise policy, entitled “Boosting Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Development in Ireland”. A successor social enterprise policy is currently being developed in partnership with the sector and it is expected to be launched in early 2024. It is also worth noting that the second National Civic Forum for dialogue between the state and the community and voluntary sector took place in November, with the forum examining how to develop and strengthen deliberative and participative approach to public policy making at a national and local level.

Finally, my Department is also in the final stages of developing a National Philanthropy Policy. The policy, which will be launched shortly, will set out specific actions to enable philanthropy to grow and thrive in Ireland for the public benefit and for the social good.

Further information on the above, and indeed a range of other work undertaken by the Department in 2023, is available on the Department's website and, as noted, the Department’s Annual Report will be published in due course.