Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have concerns about planning for 2040. As the Taoiseach comments on the front page of the plan, half of the jobs that people will be working in by 2040 may not even exist today. This the reality and there will be major concerns. The Minister of State mentioned education. I am a firm believer that education can open up many doors for people. Whether it is do with apprentices or engineers, many of our engineers have emigrated, and we need to get them, and indeed anyone who has emigrated, back. We have the finest third level education in this country. Representatives from the south east met the IDA recently, and we spoke about university status for the Carlow and Waterford Institutes of Technology. This is crucial. With 700 staff, Carlow IT is one of Carlow's biggest employers. A proper framework needs to be put in place. We have been talking about this for years but we need to make sure that we deliver on it. We talk about rural Ireland. We have put out plans, and that is welcome, and I know 3 November is the deadline for submissions.

The Government must listen to people regarding the rural post offices. It must listen to what these people in our rural communities are saying. These are the lifeblood of our community, and yet there is talk that we are going to close 200 to 300 of them. We need to make sure through this planning framework that we keep rural Ireland and our post offices alive. I firmly believe there should be little tourist facilities there, where one can get information on the local area and tourist attractions, because that is needed. Rural Ireland is forgotten, and I think it is important that that is part of it.

I also mention the health services. As the Minister of State knows, people are living longer, and quality of life is going to be crucial in this plan. However, I often wonder what sort of plan the Government is putting in place. I will give an example. As part of our local health services, we have the Holy Angels day care centre, which has been looking for a new building for 12 years. Five years ago we were told it was a priority. I am still fighting with the relevant Minister. Is the Minister of State putting a plan in place that will prioritise the building that health service needs? There was an announcement in our local newspaper last week about overnight respite care services. Our service has been closed for two years. They are saying it will be ready in another year, or a year and a half. That is unacceptable. Services have been taken away or, like Holy Angels, they have never been built properly or need a new building. How is the Minister of State going to make sure that they are part of this plan? How will he make sure that parts of the country are not denied their fair share, or forgotten about because not enough Ministers come from those places? I feel that Carlow is not getting its fair share.

Another bugbear I have is Government funding. I know that the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, met our CEOs and a few of our directors of services recently on this issue. It is all about local authorities. They and all the different agencies will play a massive part in this planning framework. However, if the Government does not listen to those from the local authorities, then it is not listening to the people. I welcome the Minister of State saying he is going to listen to the people. However, when local authority representatives say to him that their budgetary needs are not being met and they are told to meet their targets anyway, it just can not happen. If he does not listen to the local authorities and the others making submissions, it will defeat the whole purpose of this plan.

As the Minister of State is aware, we recently had a revaluation of properties and the rates for many properties went up. Although I know some did go down, this is a massive concern. These are all issues that are not being addressed. If they are not in this plan, and I cannot see them in it, the plan is not going to work. There is also the issue of property tax. There are certain areas in the country that will make a lot of money in local and property taxes, and there are other areas, like Carlow, that just are not making the same income. The Government needs to address this. I was a member of the local authority for 18 years, and I would see these issues. Infrastructure needs to be developed. There are train stations where there is no wheelchair accessibility. There are also staffing issues in most local authorities. These are issues that can be sorted, but if we do not start from the ground up, then this whole plan will be compromised, and I firmly believe that.

I will give an example. Health services have been mentioned. We have one ambulance service at night-time in Carlow, which has two staff. We have the ambulances, but we are short two staff. We need two ambulances out at night-time. If I go to the HSE about this, I am told they will look at it and come back. These are the everyday things that the Government is not addressing, and I cannot understand that. When a programme in place, we need to address the simple things. I firmly believe accountability and responsibility are the two main things here. If we cannot get accountability and responsibility, this plan for 2040 is not going to work.