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

I thank the witnesses for attending. The enthusiasm of Dr. Senan Cooke is contagious for all of us. I live in a rural parish and some of his comments struck me strongly. Our parish has a three-teacher school and, on 30 September, we will not have enough pupils to maintain that number. Over the summer, we ran a campaign to get new families to come to the area. We found new families who were interested in coming to live in the parish but we do not have houses for them. One issue in Leitrim and in areas where there is poor land is that we cannot get planning permission to build new houses, and much of the old accommodation is not suitable. There are many issues confronting people in rural Ireland but the primary one is getting energy back into the community, trying to find employment for people and finding a sense of purpose for the future. That has been missing. I commend the work Dr. Cooke has done. It is refreshing to hear somebody say that we should not look at our disadvantage but at our advantage. We need to try to turn that around.

I am also conscious that for any sector of society to reach its potential, it must be at a certain level. We must get a certain platform under it, and the problem in many areas is that they are without that platform. They are below the waterline, as it were, and they need assistance to try to get on their feet again. Rural communities need some encouragement and help to lift themselves up. Investment is the key in many of those areas.

I thank Mr. O'Reilly for his contribution. I am conscious of the work LEADER has done in many areas. I know Ms Martina Ealey well because the old Arigna LEADER programme covered Leitrim before the divide, which was a huge backward step. The way it is set up now has not worked for communities, and that was acknowledged in the presentation. We have often discussed that with the Minister and, in fairness, he acknowledges that changes need to happen. He made some changes but, as Mr. O'Reilly said, they have not gone far enough. The issue I wish to discuss is social enterprise and communities coming up with ideas to move things forward. Many years ago, I was at an event which was attended by a Minister. People were talking about co-operative employment and communities coming together to do things. He made the quip that "Co-op is no op". Basically, if the private sector does not do it, it does not work. That concept still exists in large sectors of the establishment, the Government and the way in which things are implemented, whereby if an individual is not prepared to go out and take the risk, it will not work for communities.

We must change that, and the LEADER programmes have largely been trying to turn that around. As Dr. Cooke said, we must recognise that this has potential and can deliver jobs that are sustainable in the long term. However, we must change the mindset. Mr. O'Reilly put forward suggestions for what needs to happen, but what are the core ones? If he could pick three core changes that would turn this around and that he could put in place tomorrow, what are they?