Speech by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the OECD Rural Conference

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Good afternoon, I am delighted to join you here today and for the opportunity to address this esteemed gathering.

The Irish Government is delighted to host this significant event for the first time. This is an important demonstration of Ireland’s strong engagement with and longstanding commitment to the OECD.

Cuirim fáilte mhór romhaibh go hÉirinn agus tá súil agam go bhfuil sibh ag baint taitneamh as timpeallacht álainn Chontae an Chabháin. Tá súil agam go bhfaighidh sibh deis tuilleadh den tír álainn seo a fheiceáil le linn bhur gcuairte.

I know that I am joining you on the second day of a very full programme of events. I hope that you have had productive discussions, exploring opportunities for rural development closer to home and right across the world.

As a founding member in 1961, Ireland’s role in the story of the OECD is a reflection of our early and lasting commitment to multilateralism and to overcoming common and global challenges as a community of nations.

The OECD’s standing as a globally open and evidence driven forum, which engages from national to local levels of Government, is more vital than ever as we confront increasing challenges to the international rules-based system.

It is important that the OECD remains an open and globally relevant organisation, and Ireland welcomes the recent decision to commence accession discussions with five countries in Europe and Latin America.

Today I would like to reflect on the theme of the conference, “Building Sustainable, Resilient and Thriving Rural Places”, and what I believe this means for Ireland and the world in 2022 and beyond.

The history of Ireland has made us acutely aware of the importance of rural life and rural places to the overall well-being and outlook of a nation. Enabling rural areas to thrive and reach their full potential unlocks wider benefits across the entire country.

Of course, even as I speak of ‘rural life’ and ‘rural places’ I am aware that one of the characteristics of rural areas is their lack of homogeneity. There is no single rural experience – every town, village and community have different challenges, different needs, different opportunities.

There are long-held narratives about rural areas which focus on a sense of decline or reduction. The last few years have clearly challenged these narratives.

We must move away from discussions on rural development which are characterised by sympathy and solidarity, towards those defined by optimism and opportunity.

We must move past the idea that rural areas are only seen through the prism of the challenges they face, and instead focus on practical and meaningful support for communities to capitalise on the wealth of opportunities available to them.

Another common narrative suggests that supporting rural or urban areas is a binary proposition. This is, of course, not the case. Here in Ireland, urban and rural communities are intertwined across how we work, live and connect, be it through economic supply chains, tourism, the food we consume, cultural activities and familial connection.

These interconnections are only increasing as we see our rural communities react and evolve to an ever changing and increasingly complex world.

As we gather here today there is no escaping the fact that the global system is now experiencing significant challenges following the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.

As I have said many times, Ireland remains resolute in its solidarity and support for Ukraine and its people. Since March, almost 50,000 people have arrived in Ireland after fleeing Ukraine.

The Irish Government is providing a range of supports to those who have fled the war. These supports include accommodation across a range of settings around the country. Community Response Forums in every local authority are co-ordinating the community-led response in the provision of assistance and support to Ukrainian refugees as they are accommodated around the country.

I am keenly aware that families, communities, towns, villages and cities across the country continue to play a key role in welcoming our Ukrainian neighbours in a time of personal and international crisis. The practical support and clear commitment shows the direct contribution of rural areas in the face of a global challenge.

While the war sadly continues, hope for the future remains. Ukraine secured the remarkable achievement of EU candidate status on 23 June.

I know the Ukrainian government has a high degree of ambition on its European path, Minister Vysotskyi’s address to you all this morning highlights the importance of maintaining our support throughout this time of crisis.

We look forward to playing our part, together with Ukraine and international partners, to help deliver a safe, prosperous and sustainable future for Ukraine in the European Union.

I also know the impact that the war and the current global economy is having on people across the country and the world.

Unprecedented price rises for gas and electricity will have a broad impact across households and businesses and will continue to mean that energy is a big driver of rising costs across the economy.

These energy increases are having the biggest impact on households with lower incomes.

They are trying to cope with other cost of living pressures while an ever-increasing proportion of their income is spent on their energy needs.

The government is keenly aware of the growing pressures that families and businesses are under.

We have heard the calls to address the rise in the cost of living, and we want to alleviate the very real challenges that people are facing. Budget 2023 – which we published earlier this week – was a ‘cost of living’ Budget, and showed our commitment to mitigating the impact of these costs on families and businesses across the country.

This included a package of once-off measures worth €4.1 billion, alongside a package of normal budgetary measures worth €6.9 billion.

Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine and the collective European response to it also demonstrates the critical need to make urgent progress on the move away from fossil fuels.

As we recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and deal with the impacts of the ongoing energy and food security crises, all OECD Member States are grappling with the existential crisis of our era - the transition to a climate-neutral society.

It cannot have escaped any of our attention that the very real impacts of climate change are manifesting themselves more starkly across our planet.

This summer alone we have witnessed record temperatures, wildfires, calamitous floods, and prolonged droughts.

The increasing frequency and severity of such events are further evidence, if such were needed, of the rapid destabilisation of climatic cycles that have sustained our civilisations for millennia.

The nature of the climate challenge is unlike others that we have faced. It is far more complex and requires a fundamental rethinking of how we work, travel, use our land and source our energy.

Successfully addressing the challenge, sufficiently reducing our emissions and adapting to the climate change that is now unavoidable, cuts to the core of how we have constructed our economies and societies over the past two centuries.

Here in Ireland, our Programme for Government sets out a strong framework for climate action and places it at the heart of all our work.

We have enacted a new legal framework that sets binding emissions reduction targets and provides the legislative tools to achieve the ambitious targets that we have set in law.

We adopted a carbon budget programme earlier this year and recently reached agreement on Sectoral Emissions Ceilings for the electricity, transport, buildings, industry and agriculture sectors, delivering on a key Programme for Government commitment.

The Ceilings set maximum limits on greenhouse gas emissions for each of these sectors to the end of the decade to ensure they remain within the legally binding carbon budgets.

While openly acknowledging that achieving these targets will be challenging, the Carbon Budgets and Sectoral Emissions Ceilings are essential steps in meeting them.

No household, business, community, or sector is, or can be, unaffected by this shared, all-encompassing but necessary transition. Rural and urban regions alike will need to play their part. However, I am confident that, as we take this journey together, these targets can be achieved.

Of course, the government recognises that as we work towards carbon neutrality, it is vital that we ensure that nobody is left behind and that a Just Transition pathway be found - one which delivers alternative job opportunities to those most affected.

The government established the national Just Transition Fund in 2020 which will support Ireland’s Midlands region to address the impact of the transition out of peat for electricity generation.

This Fund is supporting innovative projects and employment that contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Wider Midlands region, just south of where we are now.

Supporting inclusion in rural areas will be key in the face of these transitions. Inclusive and sustainable economic growth, alongside social cohesion in rural regions, must be a priority.

Over the last few years, we have seen our rural communities become more diverse through immigration and a re-imagining of how we live and work through technological advances. This has brought energy, enthusiasm and innovation into rural communities.

Maintaining this momentum of movement and resulting diversity into rural areas is not a hardship or a charitable act, it is a privilege and a duty so that we can ensure that rural places can thrive for generations to come.

Ensuring the long-term vitality of our rural places requires us to acknowledge and amplify the voice and contribution of women, youth, older people, ethnic minorities, members of the LGBTI+ community and other groups who call our rural communities home.

It is Government’s role to provide the environment in which this can happen.

Developing new ways to understand and measure progress in all areas of the country in a holistic way has been a priority for this government, and my department in particular.

The Well-being Framework is a Programme for Government commitment to measure how we are doing overall as a country and improve our understanding of quality of life in Ireland. It does this by bringing economic, societal and environmental impacts together under one Framework. Importantly, it places a particular focus on equality and sustaining well-being into the future.

This new Framework is now featuring in our Budgetary process. Over time, embedding this framework in our policy making system will improve the impact of public policy on people’s lives. Inclusion is at the heart of this approach, facilitating all our people to live fulfilling and meaningful lives with dignity.

This approach to measuring the impact of public policy on the well-being of individuals and communities will serve our rural communities.

We want to see communities on the ground enabled and empowered to build their own capacity to achieve progress, by identifying their own priorities and the responses to them. We know that there is a need to involve our communities and ensure that not only are their voices heard, but that they are supported to lead change.

For this reason, Our Rural Future - Ireland’s National Rural Development Policy – is informed by extensive consultation with people right across rural Ireland.

It offers a new approach to rural development policy for Ireland and adopts a more strategic, ambitious and holistic approach to investing in and maximising opportunities for rural areas.

It crosses issues such as economic growth, education, transport, healthcare and wellbeing, planning and the environment.

Under the National Development Plan, a total of €962 million has been committed to investing in rural and community development projects to 2025.

This increased funding signals Government’s commitment to ensuring strong implementation of Our Rural Future, to reach its potential to be transformative for rural areas.

Last year, also as part of our National Development Plan, we set out an unprecedented commitment of €3.5 billion for all-island investment out to 2030, including at least €1 billion from the government’s Shared Island Fund.

The Shared Island initiative aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement, which is the bedrock of our Peace Process and political and community relationships on this island.

Rural communities have always been connected in our border regions and we need to exploit this to realise the potential of these areas.

We are working through all-island partnerships to invest for a more connected, sustainable, prosperous island for all and that includes enabling rural and community development on a shared island.

With the resources and talent available in rural areas, our rural communities and economies can play a pivotal role in shaping our collective future.

The changing nature of how we live and work, and the interdependence between urban and rural areas, highlights how our national wellbeing depends on the strength and resilience of our rural places.

Working together will be fundamental to overcoming the many global challenges we are facing. The Cavan-OECD Roadmap that you will be launching today is a unique opportunity to shape, in a very real way, the work programme of the OECD on rural development. Its drive to support countries to tackle today’s challenging environment is an important piece of work and will directly support the efforts of all member states.

The discussions that have already taken place at this conference demonstrate the depth of ambition, enthusiasm and pride that we all hold for our rural areas.

It highlights what can be achieved through, and for, rural communities to deliver a more sustainable society, economy, environment and a brighter future for us all.

I once again thank you for visiting us here in Ireland and I wish you a very enjoyable stay. I hope the discussions here will further promote international cooperation and evidence-based innovations to advance the centrality of rural communities to sustainable development across the world.

Go raibh maith agaibh.