Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support what Deputy Canney had to say and, for the most part, what Deputy McLoughlin had to say. It is great that there is a fine turnout at this meeting. In considering the national planning framework, we have to take stock of where we are, and of what sort of planning and development has taken place to date. Balanced regional development never happened. Deputy McLoughlin spoke about a line running from the north of Galway across to Dublin or Louth. Consider that whole area, as we talk about rural development. Apart from the Tuam bypass, which I very much welcome, there is no major inter-urban route. There are no high-speed trains. There is no deep water port. There is a port in Killybegs, but it is quite limited in what it can do. There is a vast region of the country, the west and north west, that is without critical infrastructure. That contrasts with the south. If one is going to the ploughing championships, one is tripping over roads. I am talking about the roads to Dublin city. There are excellent national primary and national secondary roads, and even regional roads.

I support the call for more meat on the bones, for more specifics. We do not want a situation where rural Ireland is supported in tourism but not much else. I very much welcome the town and village renewal schemes, which have given hope to towns and villages. They are really about enhancing them but we need economic drivers in these rural areas. Not all rural areas are the same. A rural area that is not so far from a big town or city may be different from a place like Mayo. That county has a population of about 135,000. It has three reasonably-sized towns, but the remaining population is dispersed in rural areas. I would say the same applies to Roscommon, which is represented here. Everyone will speak about their own area. If we do not develop the concept for the region, which I acknowledge is being proposed, my concern is that Mayo will be a commuter belt of Galway or Sligo. At the moment, we have a framework providing for economic growth and development. We need more support. We need connectivity between the three main towns. I agree with the Minister of State that the decline in rural Ireland has not been confined to the last few years since the recession.

The decline has been going on for scores of years, which is in keeping with the situation throughout Europe. There is a big pull to the big urban centres. We did not get investment in roads, which I described earlier, even during the Celtic tiger era, so we need policies that are weighted towards the west and north west. Policies should be weighted and not equal. It has to be done to counterbalance the congestion in cities and the big urban centres where there is a lack of housing and school places. We have all of that in abundance in the west and north west, yet the west and north west, including Donegal and Mayo, recorded a decline in population in the 2016 census. We have an ageing population in Mayo. I see that going down the streets. It is our young people who are gone. They cannot live on fresh air. They need jobs so there has to be more investment. We can scratch our heads over the magic formula. We should not continue to pursue demand-driven economic policies, which means we only invest where there is critical mass, that is, in cities and towns. I am not saying they should not be invested in but we really need to do a lot more to put rural Ireland on a sustainable footing. If we continue as we are, we will become - I will not say a game reserve, because we are not game - merely a nice place for people to-----