Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Many rural communities are in trouble. The population is leaving them and the schools are beginning to suffer a fall in numbers. Many of them are on mains water and sewerage but the capacity is gone and there is no new development in these villages. I would be interested to know about the draft policy because a village is unlikely to secure funding under LIHAF because that fund is needed for large-scale developments being used to open up road networks. This means villages rely solely on funding from the town and village renewal scheme to get up and running, which is not appropriate. Maybe Mr. O'Leary can give me something in this draft that will keep me happy today.