Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a ceist. Working to address economic and social inequality in urban and rural areas is a core part of the work of our Department. The Department’s budget for 2025 is €472 million. Of this, €212 million is allocated to the rural development programme, supporting our rural areas to thrive socially and economically. The funding supports a wide range of schemes that can help the rural economy and promote social inclusion. These schemes include the rural regeneration and development fund, the LEADER programme, town and village renewal agus an coiste CLÁR. The remaining €260 million is allocated to the community development area, supporting the economic and social development of communities in both rural and urban areas. The social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, and the community services programme, CSP, are key programmes within the community development area. SICAP is currently Ireland’s primary social inclusion funding intervention, and is designed to help those individuals in the greatest need to access supports and to enable participation in communities. The CSP provides employment opportunities for people in disadvantaged areas, and those most distant from the labour market, while also ensuring the provision of vital community services throughout the country. Work by our Department in the areas of social enterprise and social innovation will also help address inequality in our communities. I am due to answer a question later on social enterprise in particular. My Department works closely with local authorities, local development companies and community organisations in delivering on these social inclusion measures. My Department regularly engages with rural and urban stakeholders to identify issues. This engagement is ongoing, and we are currently developing successor policies to the Our Rural Future and Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities strategies. In the whole area of urban intervention, however, it is an area on which the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I are both focused. We want to work with Deputy O'Reilly and those across the House. It is an area on which we are spending a lot of money, but I am not convinced that we are getting the kind of returns we need. I want to progress that area a lot, not just in 2025, but during the lifetime of this Government.
Sentiment score: 0.25
To give the Deputy an example regarding the community services programme, we are working with various companies around the country. We are contributing wage contribution to fund more than 2,000 positions in 430 community organisations. With regard to community centres, we have just finalised funding announcements for community centre refurbishments. That was community-led, rather than us setting a target, and that was important. We have just funded €22 million for proposals that came from across the country for specific needs and specific communities. I am worried, that if we set a target, the communities' response will not be a community-led response, whereas this has been driven from the community up regarding the specific service provided by the specific centre. We saw recently during Storm Éowyn how some centres were able to stand up. Therefore, my focus on community centre funding is how we continue to make sure they provide a specific need in the specific community. Similarly, as we relaunch LEADER in 2025, it is community-focused and community-led. What I want to do is strengthen the structures to enable a community-led response in association with a partnership with the Department. It has to be community-led, however.
Sentiment score: 0.06
To build on the previous figures regarding SICAP, we delivered funding of approximately €51 million, which supported 2,500 community groups and 27,000 individuals in 2024. I have already spoken about the community services programme. As LEADER relaunches this year, 46,000 people have completed LEADER-funded training, which allowed 16,000 jobs to be sustained in rural areas. We provided €7.5 million to the Dublin north-east inner city, NEIC, programme, with a particular focus on it being led from within the community. We have also provided €3 million in the empowering communities programme. I want to ensure that they continue to work, and working with the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, we will ensure they are focused. I am more than happy to discuss what a target might look like in that context.
Sentiment score: 0.27
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta McGuinness as a bheannachtaí. Táim ag tnúth le hobair leis ar chúrsaí a bhaineann leis an Roinn seo agus leis an nGaeltacht. Our Rural Future was launched in 2021 and over its five year duration has provided vital investment and support, strengthened local economies and improved the lives of many people across rural Ireland. The programme for Government includes a commitment to publish and implement a new rural future policy from 2026. In order to ensure that the development of the new policy is informed by an independent evaluation of the current policy, my Department has commissioned an OECD review. This review will examine not just Our Rural Future, but will also focus on the rural policy framework more generally for Ireland. The review began in earnest under the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, last year and the OECD review group has now met with more than 500 officials and stakeholders across a variety of in-person and online engagements as part of its work. The OECD is currently drafting a report based on this work, which will be published later this year and which I have no doubt will make a strong contribution to the development of the Our Rural Future policy. I look forward to engaging parties across the floor on that report. I also want to engage directly with the public and stakeholders on the new policy. A comprehensive public consultation process has been designed in this regard. The process started with an online survey which is open until Wednesday, 2 April. I encourage all Deputies to help to promote that. The survey findings will inform a series of in-person events that will take place across the country from May onwards, and there will also be an opportunity for parties to make submissions about the new policy later in the year. This level of consultation is designed to ensure that the experience of people living in our rural communities is absolutely central to the development of a successor policy programme.
Sentiment score: 0.36
I am anxious to get the views of younger people in rural areas. Part of the consultation will be specifically focused on them and getting them to engage with the review. Housing is a major issue. Táimid ag plé cúrsaí tithíochta i gcomhthéacs cúrsaí Gaeltachta freisin ach ní fadhb Ghaeltachta amháin í. Is fadhb í i ngach ceantar agus i ngach baile, rural agus urban. We will be looking at that. The outgoing strategy has exceeded many expectations. We now have the biggest budget in the history of the State within the Department of €472 million, which is being spent in communities right across the country. I want to see what Our Rural Future looks like in 2026 - in housing but also in infrastructure and facilities. We are much more online now than we were in 2021. What do we need to do to promote that or do we need to consider what impact it is having? There are many areas such as climate and the impact of climate change on rural communities will have to be part of this policy document as well. I look forward to engaging in debate on it. What is most important is that we get out and about and debate these matters.
Sentiment score: 0.16
We agree on a lot. I also point out that, as the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, has just said, the RRDF is helping in terms of building community revitalisation to assist in housing as well. We announced 30 RRDF projects last year, worth €164 million. A total of €20 million was spent under the town and village renewal scheme. That window is open again this year. We are looking at how we build infrastructure to encourage people. Under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the vacant properties grant is assisting in a lot of rural areas. I see houses opening up that have perhaps not been opened in my lifetime or at least for many decades. We will continue to promote that grant. We will see what changes need to be made to make it more flexible, to get people to revitalise existing properties. That, in turn, will support the post office, school, local facilities and local teams. It is all interconnected.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I thank Deputy Quaide for the question. There is no doubting the importance of playground facilities in communities. That is the reason my Department supports such facilities through the CLÁR programme, the local enhancement programme, the LEADER programme, the community recognition fund and the town and village renewal scheme. The CLÁR programme provides funding for small-scale projects in rural areas that have experienced significant levels of depopulation. The programme provides funding for community recreation facilities and amenities, including playgrounds. We are announcing the 2025 programme in the coming weeks. The LEADER programme provides support to rural communities under a range of themes, including rural infrastructure and social inclusion. For many years, LEADER has supported playgrounds once they are compatible with the local development strategy for the relevant LEADER area. LEADER is now open for applications in many areas. The community recognition fund recognises the huge efforts made by communities in welcoming and supporting people coming to Ireland. Since 2023, €100 million has been allocated to support community facilities, including for gaming areas and playgrounds. The local enhancement programme provides funding to community groups in disadvantaged areas. It does support playgrounds. The programme is administered by local community development committees across the country, and co-ordinated by local authorities. We also have the town and village renewal scheme, for which the window is now open. Through the community recognition fund, €50,000 was allocated to Cork County Council in 2023 for upgrade works to the playground in Midleton. A range of options is available to communities that want to work in tandem with local authorities to develop playground facilities. Yesterday, I was in Ballyogan, Dún Laoghaire, where I opened a library. The council developed the library with a playground as part of the outdoor space around it. You can walk straight from the library into the playground. It is a fantastic use of resources and a great example of what can be done with a little bit of thinking outside the box.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I welcome the fact that the initiative has been taken locally. The funding options are available to Cork County Council to support and fund that work. I direct the Deputy to the town and village renewal scheme, which is currently open. As it has funded playgrounds, skate parks, MUGAs, etc. in the past, it is definitely worth having a look at that. I encourage the Deputy to engage with Cork County Council on that. He can also engage with me on it.
Sentiment score: 0.35
I could not agree more with the Deputy. Parents are very busy, but it is not the job of the Department either. We have put the funding initiatives in place and the local authorities can engage with us on them. They are best suited to that role in such developments given their skills and knowledge of what is needed in each area. Under CLÁR alone, we funded 17 projects in Cork in 2023. In 2024 we funded 23 projects. The two tranches amount to almost €2 million between them. We have the funding for facilities. We engage through the local authorities because they are the best mechanism. They have the on-the-ground expertise. I gave the Deputy a good example of a development yesterday using both programmes. The funding is there under different streams. Good local authorities engage with us and draw down the funding which delivers for parents and families.
Sentiment score: 0.18