Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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1058. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the action his Department is taking to encourage young people to remain living and working in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39026/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Our Rural Future, the whole-of-government policy for sustainable rural development in Ireland, seeks to ensure that all rural areas are attractive for people to live, work and raise their families in. In line with this, one of the high-level outcomes set out in the policy is for an increase in the number of people living in rural areas.

Encouraging young people to remain living and working in rural areas, in line with many of the issues addressed by Our Rural Future, requires input from a range of Government Departments. This can be seen in the range of actions that have been delivered across Government Departments under the umbrella of the policy to date in areas such as youth engagement, remote working, broadband and digital connectivity, rural transport, and support for rural businesses.

According to the OECD, rural remote regions in Ireland recorded the highest population growth of all OECD countries between 2001 and 2021 and CSO figures show a 7% increase in highly rural remote areas between 2011 and 2022.

Within my own Department, I am committed to ensuring that schemes and supports in place retain a clear focus on supporting the vibrancy and sustainability of rural areas. Recent years have seen unprecedented levels of financial support provided under schemes such as the Rural and Regional Development Fund, the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, the Community Centre Investment Fund, the LEADER programme, and CLÁR. I will continue to ensure that these schemes are well funded and appropriately targeted in the coming years to ensure that they can continue to provide vital supports to rural areas.

While much has been achieved under Our Rural Future, this Government recognises the importance of continuing the level of supports and investment in rural areas. Accordingly, the Programme for Government includes a commitment to publish and implement a new Our Rural Future policy from 2026.

The process of developing this strategy is well underway, informed by an independent OECD review of rural policy in Ireland, together with an extensive and ongoing public and stakeholder consultation process. The issues around attracting and retaining young people and their families in rural areas have already featured in our consultations on the new policy and will continue to shape its development.

We will also consult directly with young people on these issues, through the Rural Youth Assembly, later this year.

Rural development remains integrally linked to the work of all relevant Departments and we will continue our whole-of-Government approach as we develop this next phase of Ireland’s rural development policy.