Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

According to the Revised Estimate, the amount for regional economic development is €88 million. It was €78 million.

It was €52 million last year. Are we going to see that money spent in full?

Working hubs have a place and there will be some demand for them into the distant future but for a lot of people they will be secondary to working from home. There seems to be an absolute passion, a fervent belief that is almost religious, among the great and good of this country that we must ignore the 30% of people who have the audacity to live outside of towns and villages, as the planners see them. Where I live in Connemara, everyone lives in a baile, which is a town or townland. They think it is a real town, even though it does not have shops, pubs and churches in it. They see nothing wrong with living in these bailte fearainn where their people have been living for 2,000 years. If one looks at the names, one will find that these are very old settlements and are not some creation of the Celtic tiger. Are we really interested in rural Ireland or only in the towns of rural Ireland? When we are talking about Estimates, these are the fundamental issues we must decide.

We are talking about rural regeneration but I have never yet gone to a meeting in rural Ireland where roads were not number one on the agenda. Number two on the agenda in more recent years has been fibre broadband in the home. I know this is not the direct responsibility of the Minister but when we are talking about rural development, we must know what her priorities are for all of rural Ireland, including the 30% of the total population that lives outside rural towns and villages. What are the priorities for those people? Is it the policy of the Government to drive them out of the countryside?

Finally, I got a chilling answer on the Flemish decree case, a planning ruling of the European Court which holds that states should either permit virtually no housing in rural areas or else have an absolute free-for-all, which we all oppose. How does that fit with the Minister's overall responsibility for rural areas? What interaction is she having with the Department with responsibility for planning? There is no point in her saying that she is going to develop rural Ireland when other Departments are totally taking the legs from under her. There is no point if the Department of Transport is not providing money for roads, if funding for water for people who are dependent on wells is not provided and broadband is not being rolled out fast enough. Finally, what is the point if people can have all of those things but cannot get planning permission for housing so that they can settle down next door to their parents?