Rural Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-05
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-05