Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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36. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in line with the objectives of "Our Rural Future", the specific, measurable interventions his Department will implement in County Mayo over the next 12-months to support the retention of young families and combat depopulation, specifically in the areas of facilitating the development of affordable community-owned housing. [68159/25]

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 rural areas are attractive for people to live, work and raise their families. In line with this, one of the high-level outcomes 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. Within this context, however, I am aware that there are variations across rural areas within these overarching figures, and the sustainability of all rural areas is key focus for Government.

As the Deputy will be aware, 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.

The new policy will build on the momentum of Our Rural Future and the actions delivered to support our aim of increasing the population in rural areas through initiatives focused on remote working, broadband and digital connectivity, rural transport, support for rural enterprises, support for the agri-food sector, and more.

The challenges around attracting and retaining young people and their families in rural areas have featured strongly in our consultations to date, including at an in-person workshop in Ballina, Co Mayo last May, and will continue to shape its development.

Informed by the extensive public and stakeholder engagement already undertaken, a consultation document setting out the proposed key themes and priorities for the new policy was published on 17 November.

Promoting balanced regional development and supporting the provision of sustainable rural housing as a key building block to ensuring viable rural communities are identified as key priorities under Pillar One of the new policy consultation document.

Housing policy falls under the remit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Engagement with this Department, and others in respect of other policy areas, is ongoing in order to secure ambitious commitments for delivery under the new plan as we continue our whole-of-Government approach to this next phase of Ireland’s rural development policy.

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