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

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentations. In particular I mention Ms Earley who comes from our neck of the woods.

There is considerable debate about rural Ireland. The message needs to go out clearly that it is probably the best place a person can live. However, we need to ensure we keep people in order to keep those areas vibrant. At one time in nearly all rural areas people either set something up themselves or had to go somewhere else to work.

At one time it was the case that one either set something up oneself or one had to go working somewhere. A massive amount of people set up their own little businesses and were their own entrepreneurs in rural parts of Ireland. I come from a rural setting and an agricultural background. There would be a guy down the road who would do welding, a person up the road who would do fitting and another individual who would do something else. Unfortunately, there are problems at present in the context of getting planning permission for people who want to do something in their areas. The authorities want to move such people to areas where everyone is doing it. There may be merit in some of that but it may be blocking some things. What are our guests' views in that regard?

To put it simply, I believe that agriculture is the background of most people in rural Ireland. With regard to the CAP - and the new CAP is coming in 2020 - in many parts many parents have said that they are only getting a few thousand and that they cannot make a living out of that. There has been a flight of youngsters from the land. To keep people in those areas, young girls and lads must be encouraged and given a fair crack of the whip. I have noticed that in certain parts of the country in which larger-scale operators have come in and are renting land and in which there has been a flight from the land, communities are not as vibrant. What are our guests' thoughts on family farms?

Our guests referred to broadband. I have made study of the issue. There is an amount of toing and froing in respect of broadband. I hope everything will work out. I went to England and looked at areas in which there is community involvement in delivering broadband. Companies such as Eir have to be put in their box and asked whether they are prepared to facilitate people who are prepared to bring a connection right along a particular road? If a community is willing to do that voluntarily and is willing to do it safely and have everything right, giving it funding may be a way to speed up the process of rolling out broadband in areas such as those to which Mr. Rice referred that do not have a service at the moment.

A problem I notice, and with which I am sure our guests are familiar, is that with more people going to work - which is good and which is appreciated - we find that in initiatives in local towns, such as the Tidy Towns competition and community employment and Tús schemes, there are criteria to fit and if one does not fit them, one is told "Goodbye" and must take a year off and draw social welfare rather than staying in the job one was in. This has put pressure on rural communities that were trying to make their towns or villages better. Do our guests agree that we need the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Transport, Tourism and Sport, Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Finance to get involved? Being realistic, the banks have moved out of many parts of Ireland the banks have moved. There is no point crying about that. We do, however, have the credit unions and the post offices - wherever some of them will be. The credit unions have a lot of money and are willing to spend. It is actually people's own money. The credit unions need a bit of flexibility to be able to move into the area of resourcing and funding rural Ireland. Included in that would be, for example, the GAA and the different town teams and so on. What are our guests' ideas regarding joined-up thinking of this nature?

We should never underestimate the amount of work that people who are part of voluntary groups do every night. There may be towns or villages that are doing better than others but, in fairness, everyone is trying. I have yet to see a village or a town in which there is not somebody doing pioneering work. However, such people are up against a headwind for the simple reason that they always have to be on the ball. I noticed it earlier when Mr. O'Reilly was talking. There should be a one-stop shop to which people could go so that they would know what is coming out in January, February, March and so on. They are looking at papers and are trying to find out this information. We have to realise these people work voluntarily. What are our guests' ideas? I know new ideas are being thrown out in terms of towns and villages. I saw one community, with which I would have worked, that had the idea that three, four or five small villages, in which there would be a shop, a pub, a church and whatever, and a main town in the middle could be worked into an economic area that would feed the constituent villages. What are our guests' views on that matter?

The obstacles regarding the LEADER programme are a major problem. It is good to hear that all funding will be drawn down. That would be great. Is it not now that we need to start making sure that the voices calling for simplification are heard? What are our guests' views on municipal districts having more autonomy over the budget for their areas? What happens at present is that the council is given money and it then decides what to do with it. Should there involvement for municipal districts, which would know more about what it is going on in an area, which would have more autonomy and which would work with local communities in a bottom-up manner? We can work from the bottom up, but the foundations need to be there and the different Departments need to work together.

In the context of agriculture, the CAP is a big issue coming down the line. We see it in the west of Ireland especially. We see youngsters moving away from family farms. The more that happens and if the people are not there, it will not matter if we were the greatest magicians in the world, it will still be hard to revive activity. What are our guests' thoughts on a tax credit to encourage people to come to areas that are being hit harder than others?