2026-02-05

13. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht for an update on the implementation of rural proofing. [8717/26]

I want to ask the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to consider rural communities when making policies.

I thank the Deputy for the question. Rural proofing refers to the processes adopted by policymakers to ensure that new programmes and initiatives understand, and take account of, the specific needs and capacities of rural communities. Our Rural Future, the national rural development policy, commits to strengthening our approach to rural proofing across all Government policies. In addressing this issue, my Department commissioned a research report on rural proofing and undertook a rural proofing pilot on a number of policy initiatives across a number of Departments. This work also took cognisance of the fact that a level of rural proofing is already taking place within the current system, although it may not be labelled with a formal "rural proofing" tag. In recognising this, my Department developed a guide to rural proofing for policymakers to build on and strengthen existing approaches, and to serve as a practical tool to assist policymakers in the rural proofing process. Including a simplified rural proofing assessment template and key resources, the guide provides a clear outline of what rural proofing is and seeks to make rural proofing easier to understand and, most importantly, to implement. The principal purpose is to aid and support policymakers to "think rural" when developing policies. The guide, which is available online, has been circulated to all Departments and will be added to the suite of tools used by policymakers. My officials are also continuing to bring awareness to the importance of rural proofing through the many interdepartmental groups they participate in and in the ongoing engagements we have referred to with other Departments regarding the development of our new Our Rural Future policy. I remain clear that by taking a clear account of rural perspectives in the policymaking process at the earliest possible stage, we will develop better and, most importantly, more effective policies for rural communities.

I must say that is an incredibly disappointing response. Let me tell the Minister what I heard. The last Government committed to developing a rural proofing model. The Minister took a look at it and said, "Hey, presto. It turns out we were doing it perfectly all along." The Minister then decided to make this a guide for rural proofing for policymakers. The Minister can do more. Where is rural proofing when it comes to free travel cards for kids effectively excluded in many rural communities? The Government did the same thing with the young adult travel card many years before this. Where was rural proofing when the Government jacked up the carbon tax earlier this year, disproportionately hitting rural dwellers without access to public transport? Will the Minister outline the great successes of his rural proofing model?

Rural proofing is delivering a record budget for the Department of Rural and Community Development agus an Gaeltacht - an investment that is going to make a difference in rural communities right across the country. Rural proofing is ensuring that Government is delivering on policies in many areas. I was in Achill last Tuesday and saw TFI Anseo, a pilot rural transport scheme that brings rural transport on demand. I am delighted to assure the Deputy that it is operating very successfully. We will work with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, as the Minister of State in charge in that space, to develop services in rural communities right across the country. We are delivering record capital investment. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, is delivering current investment. We spoke earlier about the community centre investment programme, and we may get to Deputy Gould's question on this. It is transforming community facilities in rural communities. We have spoken throughout the morning about rural ambition being delivered from within communities that is being matched by Government support and by Government ambition, which we clearly outlined in the new Our Rural Future policy, a policy that will be a whole-of-government one and which will drive rural proofing across all Departments and agencies.

A budget for rural transport does not cut it. I accept that the Minister inherited this poor, lacklustre approach to rural proofing from his predecessor. It comes across as a box-ticking exercise; a sop to those who care about it while the Minister ditches an idea his Government decided not to follow through on. I appeal to the Minister to review the Rural Needs Act 2016 that was introduced to the Assembly by the Sinn Féin deputy leader, Michelle O'Neill, in 2016. As the Minister will see, it is a much bigger body of work, and it went in to many more policies than the Government is including. I ask the Minister to consider this policy, read it and see what other substantive work he could do to underpin rural proofing. If we look at the two guides, it is apparent that one is serious about giving consideration to rural needs. I again ask the Minister to consider this policy Michelle O'Neill brought forward and everything within it that could be adapted.

I will happily compare everything we are doing here to what is happening under other governments and under First Minister O'Neill. The Deputy referred to my predecessor. My predecessor delivered €440 million to over 160 projects through RRDF since 2020, over €235 million through the town and village renewal scheme and over €110 million through the rural social scheme. This money is changing and transforming rural communities across the country. As Minister, Heather Humphreys, ensured a revolution in terms of the schemes initiated by the Department. I am building on that and on extra investment, working with Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to do that. We are also driving it. It is not just our Department, a point I made to Deputy Smith earlier. We are in charge of rural policy but every Department has a role in it. As we discussed with Deputy McGuinness, the Deputy will see that in the new Our Rural Future policy, actions will be assigned to Departments, and we will drive the delivery of those actions. I am very happy to compare what we are doing here and to compare the ambition with what we are doing here. I would like to do more of it and I assure the Deputy that I will.