Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Parnell for his presentation. I welcome and commend the Minister on the additional allocation for the local improvement scheme, LIS, which, I understand, is money not utilised in other areas. In regard to CLÁR, we have been told by several councils that jobs are rated by CLÁR on a 1 to 20 basis and that if it does not rate a job very good the Department will not permit the draw down of funding. I would like the witness to comment on that issue.

Given Mr. Parnell's statement that the Department of Rural and Community Development will communicate with other Departments one would think it is an agency. What input does the Department have into the national planning framework and can it veto it? As Mr. Parnell will be aware everybody across rural Ireland believes it is a lame effort. Can the Department of Rural and Community Development block or veto the framework or does it only have an input into such that it will come into force anyway?

I found Mr. Parnell's comments in regard to the Atlantic economic corridor interesting. During the negotiations on the programme for Government, it was agreed that TEN-T funding would be made available. What was done in Foynes via TEN-T funding is excellent in terms of its connection to Limerick, Dublin and Newry. It also connects Cork with Dublin. The west of Ireland project was withdrawn in 2011. Am I correct that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is refusing to even apply for TEN-T funding? If that is the case, then we are wasting our time talking about issues such as the Atlantic economic corridor or rural Ireland.

Mr. Parnell spoke about Men's Sheds, CLÁR and local improvement scheme funding.

Everything is good. What Senator Kelleher outlined is great in terms of what we can do but we are putting on a band aid when what we need is surgery in terms of how we fix the patient in rural Ireland.

Do the witnesses have any input into the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP? At the moment 80% of the money goes to 20% of the landlords, but the small family farm is not protected. Do the witnesses have a veto or rural proofing so that they can bring out a document and say this is not right? Can they go to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to talk about infrastructure? I know the local authorities are restricted. First, every council is 30% to 40% down on the funding it got for local roads in 2009. If we are going to create work we must get people to work by travelling on the roads. One has to have a middling good road. We may not need the 40% because we have become more efficient. In terms of the Atlantic economic corridor, I welcome the Taoiseach's announcement on the Cork to Mallow road. This is not parish pump stuff. The corridor goes from Cork right up to Donegal. We need to build a road from Mullingar to Castlebar. That is not in my area but we need to do it. We need to develop roads from Donegal down as far as Cork. Are we going to do that? There is a three-year plan but I do not want us to draw up plans and not to bring them to fruition. We have 270 aspirations. We can tick them off, such as the one relating to the CLÁR programme, for example. The Department is responsible for certain parts. They are not the big money spending jobs. Will the big jobs be done or can the witnesses make sure they can veto some Department and say they do not agree with its proposal and that it will block it? Alternatively, the witnesses could come back to the committee to look for help.

The witnesses referred to broadband. The Department is funding a person in each council. I refer to the talks to form a Government. I do not blame Ministers and I am not having a go at the Government but we were told by Department officials that by June of that year there would be a tender but 18 months later it turns out there is no tender. We see broadband being extended to parts of rural Ireland whereby a company will go up a road and leave two or three houses unconnected because they know a few quid will be available in a year or two. The reality is that no matter how one does the figures or no matter how well things go that there will be 130,000 or 140,000 businesses and houses in rural Ireland in 2021 or 2022 that no one can tell us when they will get broadband.

They are two of the infrastructural issues. We talked about mobile phone coverage. It has disintegrated because some companies are trying to concentrate on one area. There are areas where I travel every day where the coverage has got worse yet we are talking about improving things in rural Ireland.

Do the witnesses meet the Department of Finance or the Central Bank? When the large banks got the money from us they absconded from rural Ireland. I refer to Ulster Bank and the main pillar banks. I am talking about the smaller towns. That has caused a problem because the people in the area were going into the town to spend money but now they are going up to 20 miles away and people are not going into the small towns as much. We need something to provide the service credit unions provided 20 years ago. We need companies to provide loans in the way credit unions did in small towns but they are being stymied. What does one do if one does not have a financial sector and one has the payments wrong and there is no infrastructure? I agree with what has been said that there are great things going on in rural Ireland. It is the best place to live but we must address the problems.

I agree with Senator Kelleher. Dementia is a major problem in Leitrim and Roscommon. We have a higher rate there than anywhere else. However, I am not talking about those areas alone, I am talking about Ireland in general. There needs to be some incentive to provide services in towns where people with dementia can be safe. We need pilot schemes. We must provide for elderly people as well. People want a little shop and a church and perhaps a community centre. That would allow them to have enough to be happy with life. I am talking about providing up to five chalets, for example, where people might like to live. There would be a lot of paperwork involved. Such issues need to be addressed. We can achieve that.

Is the funding in the context of flooding that was mentioned extra funding or is it the €460 million that is in the five-year plan? If it is the €460 million provided for relocation that amounts to ten houses because it will cost €2 million and it is €200,000 a pop. That is nothing new. We are talking about something I read about two years ago. Nothing has been provided for businesses that have been affected. We can get over a lot of the bits and pieces but we must address the main issue. The one critical issue is whether it is possible within the context of the national planning framework and the CAP – there will be a new CAP – to veto infrastructure. If Departments can do their own thing and not listen to us then we are not going anywhere.