Dr. Breandán Ó Caoimh:

Mayo. We see that in north Mayo, the Erris Peninsula and the area to the east have the same profile whether Gaeltacht or Galltacht. It is quite a complicated picture, which goes back to what we were talking about earlier, the need for a more localised approach to planning. The Deputy brought up the whole issue of planning and the differences between the areas of Connemara he mentioned. He mentioned that lár-Chonamara is doing so well because of its location. Instead of planning being all about regulation and control, it needs to be about facilitating development and facilitating innovation so that when opportunities come by we are able to translate them into jobs and innovation and to give people the opportunity to stay. A cultural change, in addition to a geographical change, is needed in the way we go about planning so that, for example, social housing can be provided in rural areas, as the Deputy mentioned. It makes a lot more sense to allow people to live where they can access their extended family and so on. It is about seeing the people behind the issues.

The Deputy also mentioned the role of the State in providing services. We know that in the past 20 years the neoliberal state is contracting. That is adversely affecting both disadvantaged urban communities and the more peripheral rural communities. In an age of globalisation, when the world is supposed to be shrinking, we actually find increasing peripheralities both in our cities and in rural areas.

That needs to be overcome and the way to do so is through public sector investment. The likes of Telecom Éireann were mentioned and it is the old telecom's infrastructure that now maps onto where the broadband is and so on. That further illustrates the merits of what the Deputy is saying in terms of a more innovative approach to planning, planning being about enabling and innovation, the need for public sector investment and the need for a focus on the rural aspect as well as the Gaeltacht aspect. That gem that the Gaeltacht has must be optimised along with the advantages that it has with the Údarás na Gaeltachta structure so that there is a governance structure locally and so that there is an agency that is focused on the Gaeltacht and on the language. I agree that they are the two advantages that the Gaeltacht has over the adjoining areas.