Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

As the Minister stated, skills have been accumulated by those on community employment schemes in rural areas which are not easily replaced. The participants are doing very beneficial work in these areas. Some people on community employment schemes are personal assistants to people with disabilities who are living independently. It takes great skill, determination, enthusiasm and patience to be a personal assistant to somebody with a disability, yet, according to the Government, at the end of three years assistants are no longer eligible to be employed in this capacity. Will the Minister seek to redress this at the Cabinet table? It is a drawback to rural areas.

A viable rural community, be it agricultural or otherwise, is essential to maintaining viability in our towns and cities. If the income of those in rural areas declines or does not keep pace with the incomes in urban areas, the first places that will suffer will be rural areas. Not long afterwards, the small towns and villages will suffer, and the cities will suffer eventually. If there is no spending power in the agricultural community, for example, the farmer will postpone replacing machinery and buying a new tractor. He will postpone everything that is possible to postpone if he does not have the disposable income to purchase new machines. It will not be long until the tractor salesman will be out of a job, as will the man manufacturing tractors in a bigger town or city. Therefore, it is essential for the viability of urban areas that there be a viable rural community. This is what this motion is about.

In his opening address, Deputy Ó Caoláin referred to matters that could be tackled at Government level. It is essential that this is done. One point made by the Deputy that caught my imagination concerned the correct labelling of imported pork, chicken and beef. When one orders a steak for one's meal in a restaurant in Dublin city or a rural area, one invariably assumes that one is supporting an Irish industry, but that is not the case. One might be eating imported beef three quarters or half of the time. Therefore, the correct labelling of products, such as beef, in a restaurant is important in promoting and supporting markets for Irish produce. Nothing could be simpler than this, yet it is not always done. Will the Minister take up this challenge also?

I am surprised the Minister did not mention Objective One status. We had to push vigorously to make the Government fight for it for the Border, midlands and western counties. It came on board very late in the day when it was obvious that we qualified for it. The rest of the country did not qualify because the relevant figure was over 7.5% of GNP. The BMW region received Objective One status but the money received as a result is not being spent in that region. The balance is still being spent in counties along the east coast. As much of the European funds are being spent in Dublin, Meath and Wicklow as are being spent in the BMW region. It is entirely the responsibility of the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to fight his corner to ensure the extra funds our region has received as a result of its being granted Objective One status are spent in that region.

The Minister mentioned broadband. I welcome its introduction yesterday in Galway city. However, it will serve as a further draw to the city from the rural areas. Until broadband is introduced in the rural towns — there are not many towns in west Galway with populations greater than 1,500 apart from Galway city——

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