Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the Minister of State, Deputy Ring, and ask a question about An Post. At the outset, he said there is a big task in hand in bringing post offices back in order that they are at the forefront of our communities and towns. It is a simple no-brainer. They have been allowed to fall behind because they have not been given an opportunity to function or provide services. If they were given that opportunity, people would avail of those services which are so important for the social fabric of rural areas.

We spoke about broadband and, at the risk of repeating myself, I do not know how rural post offices will function unless they all have broadband. It is a basic requirement and it should be a simple job to provide it if the commitment is there.

The Minister of State also said that some local authorities were not using their discretionary funds for local improvement schemes, LIS. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae referred to this matter too. As a former Fianna Fáil councillor on Cavan County Council, I voted against it for the simple reason that our roads have been, and still are, atrocious. It would have been inconceivable to consider taking money out of our main roads budget to put it into local improvement schemes. My grand-uncle, the late Paddy Smith, introduced the LIS in the first place. It was always a stand-alone scheme, but I would like to see it being brought back. I am making the point, however, that it is not that simple for local authorities. If main public roads were in disrepair, one could not possibly justify taking money out of those road schemes to do lanes.

I spoke to the Minister yesterday - we had a very good meeting in Monaghan - about the rural economic development zone, REDZ, scheme. As a new Deputy, it was new to me and I had not heard of it before. In her address yesterday, she mentioned that Castleblayney is one town that availed of the scheme. Will she give an overview of it for Cavan-Monaghan, if I can be parochial? Are there other towns that can avail of it or what opportunities have there been for such towns? I must have missed the boat there as it sounds really interesting. In my time on the council, I was extremely passionate about main street rejuvenation and it sounded really brilliant. I did not hear of it happening anywhere in Cavan but perhaps it was just a pilot scheme for Castleblayney. Will the Minister speak a little about it?

With regard to the town teams, Cavan County Council held its first town team meeting some weeks ago in Virginia. It is probably not the fault of the council or business people but as somebody who is extremely passionate about rejuvenating our main streets and bringing integrity to them, I was extremely disappointed with the process. The people at the coalface of main street rejuvenation were not present. I brought that up with council officials afterwards, who said the individuals in question had been invited and knew about the event. It was a lost opportunity in Virginia specifically. There were people there involved with the Tidy Towns scheme and various other community groups, which is great, but business people must be there. They pay the rates and have road works outside their doors, so they cannot get customers in during the day. These are the people who we need to engage with local authorities. Unless there is a real emphasis on getting business people around the table, there will be a real question mark over whether the town teams can achieve anything. The one in Cavan town had more business people attending. If the Department is going to push the town teams, I would like more business people to attend these meetings. Perhaps they should happen during the day. The people who matter were not present but they must engage with their local authorities. What types of projects are envisaged in the context of a town and village rejuvenation scheme? I will say no more and give the Minister all that time to answer.