Mr. Paddy McGuinness:

For someone who said she would not ask a question, the Senator has asked me quite a few. They are all very interesting and I will try to deal with some of them.

The one about Departments is very relevant. At almost every change of Government since it was formed, this area moved to some other Department. It was in arts and culture, agriculture, the environment and, before the creation of a rural affairs Ministry, it was back in arts. One could be forgiven for thinking it was a case of, "This piece is left over. Where will we shove it?" It is indicative of the thinking around rural Ireland.

On the choking point, if one were to prioritise it, it would be bureaucracy, a lack of empathy at senior Civil Service level and therefore right down along the line. I will not be very popular with people working in those Departments, but that is the reality. As to whether the Minister, Deputy Ring, knows, I do not know. He is a man of action, as Senator Conway would know, so we would be hopeful.

The suggestion from Deputy Ó Cuív about moving the Department there would be a huge step for rural Ireland, not only in setting it up but also in terms of the message it would send out.

What else needs to be done? In spite of all of us, including me, having all the answers, the matter of rural decline is very complex and it probably needs really serious worthwhile study. I would be worried that the Minister, Deputy Ring, would not want to hear about another study. An issue as complex as rural decline is worth studying seriously. We all know it is a worldwide phenomenon of people moving from rural parts to cities, but I suspect somewhere in the world has managed to cope with it. We should always follow best practice if there are examples of it somewhere else.

With regard to Senator O'Donnell's question about my role, with governance the way it is now, the door is bolted and the horse is gone. I am not sure about that.