I am asking for an update on the development of a rural proofing mechanism, as promised in Our Rural Future.

It is good that progress is being made. It needs to happen as quickly as possible. Every time I raise the need for rural proofing, the prime example I give of its necessity is the west and north-west region. Further data from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, show that the gap in disposable income between the region and the State average is widening and is now €3,973. Ireland has worsened to the point where we now have a medium-sized regional inequality in line with Greece, Portugal and Croatia. This is a serious…

That is key. We need to see high-value jobs and the closing of the growing gap in average disposable incomes between the west and north-west region and the rest of the State. We need to see what the Northern and Western Regional Assembly has called for repeatedly, namely, positive discrimination. We need to see major investment in infrastructure in the west and north west if we are to turn the situation around. The region has already been downgraded not once, but twice. It is now a lagging region, which is serious …

My question is about the new community recognition fund that was announced and which I very much welcome. Can the Minister give some more information on how she plans to build awareness of that scheme and how it will work in conjunction with local authorities?

I welcome this scheme and this fund for communities. However, I also believe there is a role for the Department to play given that, not primarily but in many cases, it is rural communities that are welcoming refugees and international protection families and individuals. We just spoke about communities needing to be heard and their voices needing to be listened to, but that includes practical supports. There is a role for the Department when it comes to delivering those practical supports. They have to be for the b…

More or less every local authority in the State will be involved in this. Is there a point person within each local authority who will oversee all of this? I have to take the opportunity to raise the prime example of Ballaghaderreen in my constituency, which I have raised with the Minister before, which has been welcoming hundreds of refugees since 2017 in the emergency reception and orientation centre, EROC, in the town, with zero supports. I cannot understand why the Government is creating a situation where refug…

I am glad to have the opportunity to raise this issue again. I am asking the Minister quite directly to put additional resources into rural communities that are taking in and seeing increased numbers of arrivals of refugees and international protection families. I have raised this issue with the Minister here and I have raised it with the Taoiseach. I have raised it with the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and at committee, but nothing is happening. That is why I am raising it here again. The case in point that I have c…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I acknowledge the enormous challenge Ireland faces in respect of the ongoing war in Ukraine, its impact and the role we have to play to support those people. If it was the other way around, we would be in need and seek the same support. At the same time, there is no excuse for leaving communities in the way they have been left. I welcome what the Minister of State has said about healthcare. It is the first I have been told of that and I have raised the issue for weeks…

I recently attended a community meeting with local gardaí on antisocial behavioural issues in a town in my constituency. The gardaí at the meeting said this is a priority area but that there were no gardaí to put out on the beat. This is not their fault, of course, but it is very worrying for the town itself. It is particularly worrying for rural communities in which Garda stations have been closed in recent years. Yesterday morning, I heard the general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors…

Given the reality on the ground - the facts and figures do not lie - it is astonishing that the Minister spent ten minutes playing politics with this issue, which he calls the most pressing issue of our time, and criticising my party as if it has created and presided over record rents, record housing prices, record homelessness and has missed virtually all its targets when it comes to such a pressing issue, as he calls it. He then spent two minutes talking about CSO statistics. A fat lot of good that will do the li…

I ask the Minister to provide an update on the processing of additional needs payments. These payments are typically made in emergency situations to people who are struggling financially. It is clear that processing times have reduced and I imagine they have reduced significantly which is welcome and important. Will the Minister please provide an update on processing times at the moment?

The Minister's update and the two-week processing time are welcome. In September I received a reply to a parliamentary question stating that 95% of applications were taking between five and eight weeks to be processed. I appreciate CWOs are stepping in where they can and where the person in need can access them in the first place, which has become more difficult. I would argue that few additional needs payments are less urgent as they are payments for an emergency, typically for a one-off need, especially in recent…

Last July I suggested that it go online and I welcome that it will. One of the issues the Minister and others have raised, as most Deputies on this side of the House will acknowledge, is that where people make applications and submit supporting documentation that is either not good enough or is needed again, it has delayed their receipt of payments. I acknowledge that. I hope that with the online system, all supporting documentation will have to be uploaded and people will not be able to submit applications until t…

I want to ask the Minister about the implementation of the recommendations from the child maintenance review group, especially the recommendation on the removal of child maintenance being treated as household means when it comes to accessing and retaining social welfare supports. Can the Minister provide us with an update on the legislation and when she expects to bring it to the House? It is obviously a very important piece of legislation and an important recommendation made by the group.

Some of what the Minister said regarding what the Department is doing, instructed by her, is really welcome. While the Department is not obliging parents to prove or show proof that they have sought maintenance, in practice is maintenance still being used in meeting the calculation of the lone parent payment? There was no agreement in the review group regarding the possibility of setting up a child maintenance service. It is important for the Minister to clarify her position regarding the possibility of such a serv…

I appreciate that the Minister wants to see this legislation brought forward as quickly as possible, as do I and the rest of the Opposition. It is really important that these changes are made and they will make a difference to lone parent families. The Minister said the liable relative unit provision has been discontinued. What does that mean in practice for the unit? Will it be abandoned altogether? I appreciate the Minister cannot give a definite date but does she foresee this legislation being introduced in the …

Will the Minister please provide an update regarding accessing a State pension for family carers and long-term family carers, as she committed to?

I thank the Minister for that update. When this was announced initially and the Minister spoke about it in September, she said she expected the pension for family carers to be in place from January 2024. I appreciate that much work has to go into this. However, could the Minister let us know whether she still intends for that to be the timeline and that she foresees this being in place and ready for next January? The register is a positive move. Even aside from the State pension for family carers, it will be good t…

I presume it is the case that even though there is much work to do, which I appreciate, it is envisaged that the January 2024 timeline is still on track. That is really important because for a long time now, family carers who have ceased their caring role and sought their State pension have not been able to access a full State pension. In fairness, they were more than entitled to it after the years of care they provided. This has put family carers in really difficult situations. This is, therefore, a really welcome…

Can the Minister of State give me an update on the engagement where I know that the Department has entered talks in the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, in respect of pay, and terms and conditions, in particular, for community employment supervisors? The Minister had confirmed in the past week at the committee the hope that all supervisors would be looked at once and for all in respect of the ongoing talks, which is very welcome. Can I ask for an update on the engagement to date, please?