Mr. Gerry Murray:

It is great to come before Oireachtas Members and flag some of the issues facing all regions in Europe. Sometimes we think we are living in isolation in rural Ireland, but, in fact, many regions throughout Europe are facing greater and bigger challenges than we are. Entire towns and villages have emptied in Spain, France, Bulgaria, etc. We have met people and officials from these communities and they just say it was a litany of small cuts, with police stations, post offices, banks and shops being closed. It then comes to a tipping point which one official described as "a run on the banks." It is hard to imagine a vibrant community could die so quickly, but that is what is happening. For example, post-2020, in the north-west region, huge tracts of rural France and Spain will be in transition. That means that all of the statistics are indicating that all of these rural regions are not progressing and that they are moving backwards.

The only thing preventing the north-west region from going back to objective 1 status is the repatriated profits of some of the multinational companies, which are overinflating the gross domestic product, GDP, per capitain the region. Without these, we would have objective 1 status again. We have a serious crisis in rural Ireland. As Councillor Lundy noted, the demographic is changing dramatically. There is a major flight from the land and a low number of young farmers taking on their family homesteads and continuing the tradition of farming. As Deputy Haughey said, the CAP is crucial in respect of all of those issues.

The feedback from the rural regions of Europe is that tourism, the Common Agricultural Policy, the LEADER programme and various other initiatives are not sufficient to reverse the decline. What these regions need is a front-loading of infrastructure to attract investment and employment. Tourism, to a large degree, is the icing on the cake but only accounts for 5% of GDP in Ireland.We need to ensure policy addresses the other 95%.A problem we have encountered in meetings with officials in Brussels is that they are quite happy to front-load money into the regions but only in circumstances where the respective nation states are prepared to match it. Unfortunately, many European states are not prepared to step up to the plate with matching funding. Perhaps members could deal with that issue.

Senator Leyden referred to a land bridge to the United Kingdom. In the west, half of the western rail corridor is open and the other half is closed. This is a low carbon, tariff-free and low cost route into Waterford Port and out to the European mainland with its market of 500 million people. The route was nominated for trans-European transport network, TEN-T, funding in 2011. The Government took it off the agenda in 2014, despite Europe making available 50% or 60% grant aid for the initiative. I hope that when the review of TEN-T starts in 2020, Oireachtas Members will lobby to ensure this section of the western rail corridor is put back on the agenda for TEN-T funding. That funding is available because rail transport is regarded as a low carbon transport initiative and ties into climate change, etc. As the UK will no longer be a common transit area post-Brexit, many multinational companies in Mayo and Galway are looking at alternative routes to the European market. The western rail corridor, from Sligo to Waterford and Cork ports, is an obvious alternative. However, it needs funding, which requires the State to nominate the project as part of TEN-T. Oireachtas Members could lobby to have the project put back into the TEN-T for funding in 2020 given that 50% of the funding would come from Europe, with Ireland providing matching funding.

The other major issue is broadband. There is a serious deficit of broadband in rural Ireland. Councillor Murphy referred to the various state aid regulations that are impeding the roll-out of broadband. It is hard for private utilities to embark on a major roll-out of broadband in circumstances where the economies of scale are acutely low. We are sometimes told at briefings of the Committee of the Regions that the Luxembourg Government or other governments are actively engaged in rolling out broadband. They do not seem to be impeded either by competition law or state aid law. The Committee of the Regions will examine the reasons local and national governments in some countries can show such latitude in rolling out broadband fibre, whereas we are told that there is an impediment.

For these reasons, it is important that we have this engagement as it allows Members of the Oireachtas to find out what impediments we are facing in Europe. It is also important that Members, irrespective of which party is in government, can bring pressure to bear to ensure major infrastructural projects are nominated in the regions to achieve balanced regional development. In circumstances where there is significant matching funding from Europe, there is no excuse for the State failing to nominate major critical infrastructure in the rural regions.