Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Much of what I want to say has already been covered by Deputy Fitzmaurice and Senator Hopkins. As a result, I am not going to prolong proceedings. I welcome our guests. It is great to meet them. I know of their drive and enthusiasm to make things better. I am sure they will not mind if I keep a special mention for our own lady from Roscommon. I really want to pay tribute to Ms Earley because she has a real hands-on approach and she has been involved in many innovative ideas throughout the county. Like Deputy Fitzmaurice and Senator Hopkins, I am sure we really acknowledge her enthusiasm. I am always amazed by the amount of meetings, gatherings and launches politicians have to attend at night, but Ms Earley nearly outdoes us. She is great for that. I really want to pay tribute to the work she does in our region.

I will keep to basics. The biggest problem in a county like Roscommon - and Deputies Fitzmaurice and Kenny and Senator Hopkins will know this as they are from adjoining counties - is broadband. I know I am being a bit parochial but if one looks at County Roscommon, it is obvious that it needs the national roll-out more than any other county. More than 50% of the county is relying on the national roll-out. We have been disappointed on many occasions. In their engagement with Government, did our guests speak to it about broadband? Is it talking about giving them a greater role in respect of broadband? Like other politicians, companies approach me and state that they can deliver this or that but I am not going to go around recommending a broadband company because I do not know what it will deliver. Many of them pick and choose in any event. They are in business and the reality is that they want to be successful and make money. I have seen this happen in the county already. They came in, picked the cherries off the tree and left everything else. We do not want that scenario but it really is vital and important for rural Ireland.

We talk about the post offices, which definitely are important in parts of our regions, but they are not as important as broadband. I am wondering about the engagement there. I fully accept what Ms Earley has said about the stop-start scenario. It is doing the whole LEADER project no good. We have seen this happening in our county.

People lose faith in it so I fully agree that we must have an ongoing plan. It should not be the case that, over weeks and months, we merely hear that particular measures will be brought forward. That is not a good scenario.

Many communities have fantastic ideas, as Deputy Fitzmaurice noted. If we consider the innovative people in rural Ireland over the years who started businesses from old sheds in backyards, it is amazing. That would not happen anywhere else in the world.

In the context of our town of Strokestown, despite the wind farm on Sliabh Bawn, about which, as Deputy Fitzmaurice knows, I got many a slap in the face, we have a group of 15 people who go onto that mountain to walk and exercise. Coillte has put in a large number of tourism attractions. It could do much more but it has done a certain amount. My point is that there are seven people within a radius of ten miles who have tourism business proposals to link up. One of those is for a wood museum in Strokestown. Such a museum would be unique and would attract people from throughout the country and abroad. We have the National Famine Museum, which attracts 65,000 visitors. If we had something like that, it would be great. In terms of developing the museum, I am coming up against a brick wall. It appears that nobody at Government level is able to help us. We do not have such a facility anywhere in Ireland. Coillte has 700 acres in the area on which there is a wind farm, but now we have tourism-related and health promotion activities on it. A wood museum would attract many people to that area and would be a fantastic economic boost for the region, but it is impossible to develop such a project. I would love those involved in LEADER to be given more power by Government to involve themselves in that type of development. On foot of the discussions they have had with the Minister, will our guests indicate whether consideration is being given to granting them more powers to take on such projects?

We had briefings yesterday with the IFA and a point made strongly by the representatives - Deputies Martin Kenny and Fitzmaurice and Senator Maura Hopkins will be aware of this - is that they are open to dealing with the question of renewable energy. There is a huge area, as the Chairman knows, that could be developed. Is that something the Government is discussing with our guests with a view to developing it further? It is my belief those are the areas we have to develop.