Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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85. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the proposed timeline for publishing Our Rural Future 2025-2030, following the recent public consultation on the policy’s development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26190/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Our Rural Future 2021-2025 has provided vital investment and supports, strengthened local economies and improved the lives of many people in rural communities across Ireland.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to publish and implement a new Our Rural Future policy from 2026.

The process of developing this successor policy has already begun. The new policy will be informed by an ongoing Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of rural policy in Ireland, commissioned by my Department, together with an extensive public and stakeholder consultation process.

The consultation process commenced with an online survey which ran from 10 March until 2 April 2025. I am very pleased with the strong level of engagement, with over 1,200 responses received. The views expressed by survey respondents are directly informing the policy development process, including the ongoing series of stakeholder and public consultation events now taking place across the country.

Two of these stakeholder events have already taken place in Ballina and Donegal Town, with further events scheduled out to the end of June.

Drafting of the new policy will be clearly linked to the evidence gathered from consultation. I can assure the Deputy that rural development will remain integrally linked to policies across many Government Departments and we will continue our whole-of-Government approach as we develop this next phase of Ireland’s rural development policy.

A policy framework document, outlining the emerging themes and priorities which will inform the new policy in the period to 2030, will be published for a further period of written public consultation later in the year. I am confident that this extensive consultation process will afford everyone the opportunity to make their views heard.

Government is committed to building on the success of Our Rural Future and securing a more sustainable and resilient future for our rural communities.