Mr. Neilie O'Sullivan:

The subtitle of The Rural Challenge, "Empowering Rural Communities To Achieve Growth & Sustainability", captures the issue. The initiative came about through co-operation between the Irish Rural Dwellers Association, the Kerry executive of the IFA and the Kerry county board of the GAA. All three organisations are extremely concerned about rural depopulation and what is happening to rural communities. The GAA county board commissioned a study which produced some alarming results on population decline, particularly with regard to the peninsulas and the peripheral areas of the county. We then commissioned this report in association with the Institute of Technology Tralee and we launched it last April.

The report identifies our key demand, which is the establishment of a rural forum. Remarkably, when we examined the subject we discovered one of the key recommendations of the 1999 White Paper on rural development, which is an excellent document, was the establishment of a rural forum. The White Paper was possibly mislaid during the euphoria of the Celtic tiger era when we were all doing very well. We need to get back to it because there is no doubt that rural Ireland is suffering. We need a bottom-up common approach.

The central theme of The Rural Challenge is about the inalienable right of people to continue to live and prosper in rural Ireland. We call for the establishment of a rural forum to address in a non-confrontational manner the needs, aspirations and ongoing welfare of those who wish to live, work and raise their families in the Irish rural countryside. The rural forum would provide a meaningful opportunity for rural issues and concerns to be validated in a bottom-up approach and would give rural people a strong voice and input into policies which impact on their way of life. The rural challenge group is entirely non-political and not aligned to any particular movement. We are not interested in public protest or civil disobedience campaigns. We want to enter into dialogue with our public representatives in local and national government to draw up a realistic vision for the development of rural Ireland and its people well into the 21st century and beyond.

Rural Ireland is home to 1.5 million people and is still a great place to live. We propose a 12-point action plan which we believe if implemented would ensure the future viability and sustainability of our rural way of life. These 12 points include: fair and equitable rural planning whereby rural people's inalienable right to reside in the countryside is acknowledged and asserted; a reversal of Government and public policy strategies, which to date seem focused on the reduction or closure of services throughout rural Ireland; providing infrastructure and appropriate access to encourage vibrant rural enterprises, including better road access to western seaboard counties and better rail and air services; the provision of high-speed broadband and advanced technology which would facilitate the proliferation of small rural industries and support the concept of home working; the provision of appropriate business supports to allow for innovative rural enterprise and the removal of bureaucratic blockages which tend to stymie small-scale rural enterprises; the ongoing development of the family farm enterprise and the agri-food sector which has the capacity to create much sustainable employment; quality-of-life issues such as home care strategies for the elderly, meaningful community care programmes and support for the concept of the extended family, which traditionally has been a welcome feature of rural life; the recognition of rural customs and traditions and the preservation of a rural heritage; establishing one-stop-shop service outlets in local communities, perhaps utilising the local post office as the preferred location; a review of the national spatial strategy which we believe tends to concern itself primarily with urban development; developing first-class sustainable rural communities through ongoing and genuine collaboration and engagement with local communities and community organisations; and, something which is in the news at the moment, the retention and development of the rural transport system. These are our key objectives. We believe the 1999 White Paper should be updated and re-examined as it was an excellent document which ticked many of the boxes in which we are very interested.