Commission to hear rural voices on development

A commission is to carry out an extensive public consultation on the economic potential of rural Ireland and how best to channel funding between 2013 and 2025.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan, announcing the move at the ploughing championships, said the Rural Commission will start its work this month.

It will visit rural communities over the next eight months to gather opinions on what initiatives should be carried out to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in their areas.

“The people who already live and work in these communities are best placed to provide the information required to assist policy makers to develop long-term solutions to the developmental requirements of their communities,” said Mr Hogan.

He said the commission will “travel the length and breadth of the country and ask the people of rural Ireland the questions that need to be asked and, more importantly, will listen to their answers, with a view to using the information provided to support rural communities in the future”.

It will also examine the non-farming, or “outside the farm gate”, aspects of economic development in rural areas and will prepare a report by the end of 2013 that will inform the development of strategies to support the medium-term economic development of rural areas up to 2025.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said he believed the commission can contribute significantly to identifying and harnessing the specific potential in rural communities for economic and social development.