Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes the commitment of the Government to the development of rural Ireland through implementation of the White Paper on Rural Development and in particular through key initiatives to enhance services, infrastructure and employment in rural areas by:

—the setting up of a separate Department with special responsibility for rural development, island and Gaeltacht regions;

—the launch of a major programme of decentralisation, designed to bring public services and employment closer to communities across the country;

—the record investment in non-national roads, the arteries of local communities, by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and through the 'CLÁR' programme;

—the publication of the National Spatial Strategy with its particular emphasis on rural development and rural planning;

—the publication of the draft rural housing guidelines;

—the setting up of the CLÁR programme with a wide range of actions to tackle the problems of rural disadvantage and depopulation;

—the setting up of the Rural Social Scheme to provide employment to underemployed farmers and services in rural areas;

—the setting up of Comhairle na Tuaithe to deal with the issue of sustainable development of the recreational amenities of the countryside;

—the continued commitment to both Leader+ and Leader national programme;

—the progress being made towards achieving 40% female representation on Leader boards by the programmes conclusion in 2006;

—the record investment by this Government in rural water and sewerage services, and through the CLÁR programme;

—the commissioning by the Government of a rural enterprise review;

—the continued support for the Western Development Commission and Údarás na Gaeltachta;

—the record investment in educational facilities and personnel in rural Ireland by the Department of Education and Science and through the CLÁR programme;

—the provision of a second teacher in all primary schools with more than 12 pupils;

—the regular consultation with farm bodies and rural organisations, particularly through the National Rural Development Forum;

—the continued efforts by the Government to foster All-Ireland co-operation in the absence of a functioning devolved executive in Northern Ireland;

—the provision of improved public transport services to rural Ireland through the rural transport initiative and improved island, air and boat services;

—the record investment in health services in rural Ireland by both the Department of Health and Children and through the CLÁR programme;

—the provision of broadband services through a broad range of measures taken by the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and under the CLÁR programme;

and that these measures demonstrate that this Government has committed itself totally to ensuring a better quality of life for all people in rural Ireland and will continue to do so co-ordinated by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the first dedicated Department of Rural Development in the European Union."

Ba mhaith liom an leasú atá curtha ar aghaidh ag an Rialtas a mholadh. Ba mhaith liom buíochas mo chroí a glacadh leis na Teachtaí ar fad a labhair anseo anocht go dtí seo. Tá mé ag éisteacht go cúramach leis an díospóireacht anseo go ceann cúpla lá. Creidim gur díospóireacht thábhactach é. Ba mhaith liom freisin a rá gur éist mé go cúramach leis na rudaí a dúradh anocht.

I have to confess that I am a townie. I have the distinction of coming from Dublin 4, I was educated here and lived all my formative years here. I went to rural Ireland with the express intention of getting involved in a co-operative to create jobs in a very depopulated part of the country. I spent nearly 18 years employed in that occupation. I am glad to say that what was a bog on the top of a hill, with no jobs, is now host to well over 200 jobs that were created through hard work and enormous difficulties by people who were committed to doing something for their area and who realised that not everything was solved by easy rhetoric.

I, too, have been very critical of rural development policies because I have suffered under the problems created by the lack of rural development policies, lack of understanding and resistance shown every time a Government proposed to allocate money to rural Ireland from the urban area in terms of rural spend. That was one of the motivating reasons I entered politics. However, I also learned during the 20 years working at the top of that hill that there are no magic wands to solve problems and that hard work and long hours achieve much more than talk.

The second point I want to make by way of background is that we have to be honest in politics and realise that we cannot forever give out about lack of spending. Every time an extra tax is imposed we hear talk of stealth taxes and other complaints about taxation, but the reality is that we can only spend what we get from the taxpayer. If we want to increase spending, that is fine but we must tell the taxpayer that, ultimately, they will have to pay. If we borrow the money now, some taxpayer in the future will have to pay it because we do not have any other handy source of long-term funds.

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