Announcing the Commission Minister Hogan said: "The Rural Commission will start its work this month and will visit Communities throughout rural Ireland over the next eight months in order to gather information from the people on the ground 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.
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"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 into the future.
"The commission will 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 future strategies to support the medium term economic development of Rural Areas for the period to 2025."
Underlining the important and useful role of the Commission, Simon Coveney, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Minister said: "Rural Ireland can contribute significantly to our economic recovery, through the growth of our Agri-food industry and also through the development of other rural based enterprises. I believe that the Commission can contribute in a significant and useful way to both identifying and harnessing the specific potential in our rural communities for economic and social development."
(CD)
