Clare County Council has announced the establishment of a Rural Development Forum and a Rural Development Strategy for the county in response to the Government’s “Action Plan for Rural Ireland”.
Launched on Monday, the national plan sets out five pillars aimed at developing rural communities which Clare Chief Executive Pat Dowling describes as “a very significant opportunity for rural development in Clare.”
“At the outset of my appointment as Chief Executive, I committed to the establishment of a forum on rural development and the preparation of a rural development strategy,” he said. “It is intended that the Clare Rural Development Forum will support in new ways the work of all of our organisations and the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) in the implementation of the Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) for Clare. Through the Rural Development Strategy we will achieve the Government’s targets for this Action Plan.”
Mr. Dowling confirmed that the Forum will meet on five separate occasions before the early summer to guide Clare’s response to the Government’s Action Plan for Rural Ireland in the form of a Clare Rural Development Strategy.
Local community, business and farming groups as well as State and Development Agencies interested in being nominated as potential members of the Clare Rural Development Forum are being invited to attend the inaugural meeting in the Ennis Civic Room of the Buttermarket Building, Waterpark, Ennis, on 15 February 2017. The Local Authority and its members will also be represented on the new Forum.
“In recent discussions with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, the importance of a strong Clare multi-Department response to the Action Plan was welcomed. The Council’s newly appointed Acting Director of Rural Development (Leonard Cleary) and the Directorate team will provide the operational support for this Forum and Strategy and will work with partner organisations where additional Government funding opportunities emerge.”
Dowling concluded by acknowledging the organisations “whose work programmes and plans already collectively contribute to rural development in Clare.”