Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The legacy of Fine Gael's time in government is shown in the census figures, particularly regarding what is called urbanisation. For many years, rural areas were growing right out into the periphery but we have seen a rapid suck in since Fine Gael came to power and that is typified here today. I am beginning to wonder what rural Ireland actually means. I like to look at spatial maps and there was a very interesting one published by the CSO showing the percentage of people in every county in Ireland that live in rural houses, outside of villages and towns. All I ever hear from this Government is plans to spend money in rural towns but there are 1.5 million people who live outside rural towns and villages. It is as if they do not exist. It is as if all of those people have no rights to anything and are for annihilation as self-sustaining communities. All of the time the narrative from Departments, including the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, concerns towns and villages. The recently announced €20 million fund, for example, is not for people who happen to live outside the village - the street village, not the baile or the traditional village. If I live outside the street village or the town, I do not exist. There is no money for me. There is nothing for me. The Department is actually a Department for the development of very large towns and to a lesser extent, small villages, despite the fact that the vast majority of people live outside of rural towns and villages. Those people do not exist, do not count and are not meant to get anything. That is a huge concern. It seems that everyone is getting sucked in to the narrative of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and its long-term project which is the forced urbanisation of Ireland. Despite the drug problems, the housing problems and the congestion in urban areas, that Department wants more and more urbanisation. I ask the Minister of State to define rural Ireland and outline the schemes funded by the Department for those who live outside the street villages and towns of rural Ireland.