Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht na ceiste. Is cúis mhór bhróid dom an cheist seo a fhreagairt ar son mo chomhghleacaithe, an tAire, an Teachta Calleary, agus go mórmhór an tAire Iompair, an Teachta O'Brien. I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and for his interest in rural transport. He will have a group from west Waterford here tomorrow. I hope we will get together. The Government is of the view that rural transport plays a pivotal and important role in supporting rural communities and ensuring rural people and places are interconnected. While responsibility for the provision of transport services, including engagement with relevant State agencies and semi-State bodies, falls under the remit of the Department of Transport and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, with me as the Minister of State with responsibility for rural transport, the Government’s Our Rural Future policy takes a whole-of-government approach to rural development, with the Minister, Deputy Calleary, leading on actions to support rural communities being delivered across a range of Departments and agencies. The important point is that the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan has delivered significant improvements in rural transport services over the lifetime of Our Rural Future to date. Under the National Transport Authority, with funding from the Department of Transport, 185 new or enhanced services have been delivered or implemented in the past four years, linking more than 240 towns and villages to the public transport network. With funding for the rural transport programme, regular rural services increased by 32% between 2024 and 2025. More than €87 million was invested, boosting passenger numbers on regular rural services by 47%. The important point for all of us who understand the importance of rural transport is that under the Connecting Ireland programme more than 600,000 people now have access to useful daily public transport services for the first time. We can do more. We are ambitious to do more. I accept there are difficulties and lacunas and I will come back again on that.
Sentiment score: 0.35
As the Deputy is aware, I have been in west Waterford and I hope we will find a solution to that impasse. Having visited the site and spoken to locals, what is happening there does not make sense to me. I have asked that it be looked at. I will make the point in the round that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has been proactive, as have I, in being an advocate for rural Ireland and rural communities. That voice is heard by the Minister and me and across the Government. We are close to the development of the next five-year Our Rural Future strategy. The Minister is undertaking bilateral meetings with other Departments at the moment about that document. It is important that it takes a whole-of-government approach because the Deputy is right. Rural communities have made significant advances over the lifetime of this Government and that of the last one. Now, 600,000 people are interconnected with access to 185 new or enhanced services and-----
Sentiment score: 0.15
-----we will continue to drive stakeholder engagement.
Sentiment score: 0.46
The Government and the Department of Transport have been proactive in their support of rural transport. I do not think the Deputy would dismiss the fact that this year €718 million has been allocated to investment in the regional and local road network. I do not think the Deputy will oppose that and Waterford, through its county council, has received significant funding. The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and the Department of Transport are committed to continued investment in our roads infrastructure, and in the critical piece of connectivity of people in our rural areas. I do not think the Deputy will disagree that there has been significant improvement in the provision of rural transport and growth in the use of it. I go back to the point about the number of people using it and the number of services. I accept there are difficulties and challenges and we must, as part of the budgetary process, work to ensure rural transport receives its allocation of funding to progress new routes.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I do not think it is as simple as the Deputy thinks but I thank her for the question. It is an important question. The provision of community childcare is very important. The Deputy and I probably share a view on the issue. As she will know, this does not necessarily fall under the remit of the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. I will come back to her again. I hope we will find common ground as we move forward. Social enterprises have a substantive role to play in furthering the objective of the Department, the Minister and me to build inclusive, sustainable and empowered communities right across Ireland. The current iteration of SICAP for the four-year period from 2024 to 2028 contains a revised key performance indicator for goal 1 that explicitly includes the provision of social enterprise supports, both financial and non-financial, as working towards the achievement of goal 1 objectives. This is in recognition of the important role that social enterprises can play in effecting change, working with SICAP target groups. In 2025, SICAP supported over 500 social enterprises through capacity-building supports and small-scale grants of up to €2,500. As Deputy O'Reilly will know, in July 2024, my Department launched Trading for Impact, the national social enterprise policy for a three-year period to conclude next year. This was developed in partnership with the social enterprise sector. Work is continuing to support and grow the sector through the strategy's stakeholder engagement group. Funding of €4 million was announced in 2025 under the Dormant Accounts Fund growing social enterprise scheme. A further €4 million was allocated this year to a sustaining social enterprise scheme, which will support social enterprises to become more financially self-sufficient. I hope to announce the successful awardees with the Minister later this year. SICAP's primary focus is the delivery of support to its 12 target groups and the provision of supports to strengthen the capabilities of organisations working with those target groups. The programme's broad parameters and wide-ranging supports have ensured that it has been and continues to be able to respond flexibly to that local need. However, while SICAP can provide some supports to community organisations and social enterprises, the programme is not designed for the direct delivery of services such as childcare.
Sentiment score: 0.38
I understand where the Deputy is coming from. I genuinely do. Empower is the community childcare provider in her area. It does phenomenal work. As the Deputy knows, SICAP does not directly provide that community childcare place. I am meeting John Logue and Richard Bruton from Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI, next week to have a conversation with them in terms of this piece. I will pose the question in a rhetorical and adversarial way right now. What is the community childcare committee doing in the case of Fingal? I will just ask that question. If we look at the overarching scenario, to be fair to the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and the Department of Social Protection and the Taoiseach and his Department, we are putting child poverty and its elimination and reduction at the heart of government. I was in Drogheda yesterday where I had a very profound conversation with women there in terms of the whole piece around childcare and poverty. The important point for us is that we are working in a whole-of-government way in assisting local communities in a variety of ways. I know the Deputy might disagree with me, which is fair enough. I get that we need to do more around childcare and particularly that community piece.
Sentiment score: -0.07
Okay. I will come back again.
Sentiment score: 0.11
The important point is that there is a commitment by the Government. I share the Deputy's confidence in terms of the capacity of social enterprises to deliver. I will have that conversation next week, but it would be fair to say that we are seeing a co-ordinated response from the Government. We are tackling the key issues. There is a deficit in some places around the provision of community childcare places. In saying that, I do not agree with the Deputy in every respect. I do not share her view on the for-profit issue around home help, which was one example given by the Deputy. In my area of Cork city, home help is being provided by people through the HSE co-ordinator there. Phenomenal work is being done. I will talk to the Deputy again about it. We are committed to ensuring that people have access to childcare and community childcare places. I will talk to her ahead of my meeting next week with the two gentlemen in question. However, the important point is that, as the Deputy knows, we have done a census in the social enterprise space.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I will come back in again if I can.
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Okay.
Sentiment score: 0.23