Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In terms of the national rural development schemes, I am thinking about CLÁR and the existing walkways and tourism initiatives. I know some work has been done in different parts of the country. An excellent walkway has been built around a lake in Drumshambo, Country Leitrim. Another project in north Leitrim seeks funding to build a greenway. A number of projects in different places await funding. There seems to be a slowness in moving the projects forward as quickly as needed. Can the Minister ensure these projects will be progressed as quickly as possible?

I agree with what Deputy Ó Cuív has said about the western rail corridor. The project can act as a beacon to emphasise that rural Ireland is coming back to life. I would like everything that can be done to be done. As the Minister for Rural and Community Development will know, the big problem for a vast majority of rural Ireland is rural depopulation, decline and people feeling there is no future for them, which we must change. As I have said many times, the sense of future is really what it is all about. People want to feel that they have a stake in the place. Very often people have discovered that what existed in the past has dwindled away. I live in the parish of Aughavas, County Leitrim. The local national school has started a programme to encourage new families to move to the area because only three children will start national school next year and just one the year after. If such decline in the number of children living in the area continues then the three teacher school will close in five or ten years time.

No one is moving to the area because there is little or no employment available and, therefore, no sense of a future. That is the big issue that we need to change. People can live in rural areas but work 30 miles away. That is a short commute compared with being stuck in traffic while going to work in cities. People have a better lifestyle, etc. when they live in rural areas. The advantages of rural Ireland will only be known to people when we start doing stuff that people can see and proves that the Government and society believe in rural Ireland again. I accept that the Minister and his colleagues believe in having a thriving rural Ireland. In order for rural Ireland to survive and thrive we need big flagship projects such as the development of the western rail corridor. Such projects would provide the Government is serious about investing in rural Ireland.

Group water schemes were mentioned. I wish to mention group sewerage schemes as they are very important. In many parts of the country people live within a mile or so of local towns in close proximity and there is great pressure placed on them to have septic tanks. If an adequate scheme was put in place to provide funding it would be a huge help to the people who live in such areas. The current scheme is very poor and hard to access.