Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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3432. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he expects the rural population in Ireland to rise or fall over the next four years. [40784/25]

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.

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.

The Economic and Social Research Institute projects that the population of Ireland will increase by over one million people over 2022 levels, to approximately 6.1 million people by 2040.

The National Planning Framework allows us to sustainably plan for this future growth and achieve a more even distribution of population, housing, jobs and infrastructure across all regions. This includes a target of roughly 50:50 distribution of future growth between the Eastern and Midland region, and the Southern and Northern and Western regions combined.

Rural population trends, in line with many of the issues addressed by Our Rural Future, are an issue that require input from across a range of Government Departments, and thus the policy takes an explicitly whole of Government approach. 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 remote working, broadband and digital connectivity, rural transport, support for rural enterprises, and support for the agri-food sector.

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, and the process of developing this strategy is well underway.