Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank members for their questions. While I have been given responsibility for the portfolio for rural affairs, the issues are challenging. I believe that if we identify the issues and try to deal with them in a realistic manner, we will make progress. Deputy Cowen spoke about the demise of rural towns and villages. I am hugely conscious of this issue. We have a rural towns stimulus package which is based on specific actions and works with local authorities. Through their local community development committees, LCDCs, local authorities must identify in their economic plans the issues and proposals identified by the Deputy. They must consider whether they can attract a lower rates base and what they can do working with Government supports. Senator Denis Landy sent me practical proposals similar to those made by Deputy Cowen which could be worked on with the local authorities. Such proposals should be pushed forward and I would be an advocate for that.

On funding, under the rural development programme some €250 million will be injected into rural communities and the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, will provide €24 million. While the CEDRA report does not have a designated budget, this does not mean there is no funding available. I have spoken to the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and local authorities and they are rural-proofing their new business plans and policies, and rural Ireland is very much on their agenda.

I also work with people from Irish Rural Link. Rural pubs were referred to and it is sad to see the demise of the rural pub. I have seen the effects in my community. People in Britain have novel ideas on this issue and there the rural pub reinvented itself and became the local shop as well. I am working closely with organisations in rural Ireland who have good and practical suggestions on how we can make improvements in rural Ireland by doing things that might not cost a significant amount but would make a big difference.

I fully understand the concern about the post office network and the closure of rural post offices because I know what they mean to the people of rural Ireland. As a committee member, I argued that post offices have offered more of a service than that provided as a post office and that perhaps that service should be measured in an economic way. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy White, has set up a working group on the post office network. I sit on that working group which is chaired by an independent chairman, Bobby Kerr. The group is due to report to Government before the summer of this year and I expect it will do good work. The post office network is extremely important and is part of the fabric of rural Ireland. As a member of that committee, I will do what I can to consolidate further the post office network in rural Ireland.

The announcement by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, last week on rural schools is welcome. She knows of my concerns about rural areas and schools. Rural schools are embedded in communities and she knows that these communities feel their schools are the heart of their community and want to keep that the case. Of course, resources will always be a factor. I have advocated for the retention of rural schools and welcome last week's announcement.

In the past, some planning decisions may have contributed to the demise of some of our small towns and villages. For example, I have seen large housing estates built in some villages and towns that did not have basic facilities such as a pharmacy or GP service and which only had a small school that could not cope with the influx of housing. The lack of services meant people tended to move on to the nearest large town, leaving us with sleeper towns and villages. We are trying to arrest this, but that will not be easy. We must keep up our efforts and I am committed to looking at practical steps to help these communities, towns and villages.