Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

Change is necessary. The market will bring it about by itself but the Government has great power to do so and I hope it will. Having brought forward the Bill, it should consider the position of businesses which are struggling to survive in rural areas, particularly the west. Unfortunately, in a place such as Achill or Belmullet, business costs and expenses are similar to elsewhere and similar wages, heating bills and rates must be paid. The rate for a rural hotel in Achill is €18,000 a year. Given that the season is so short, these costs must be paid with the earnings of a few months at best, which is difficult.

Such businesses do not have as much of what the trade would call footfall as O'Connell Street in Dublin, for example. Hotels are opening on O'Connell Street and in many other locations owing to Government incentives, and they are doing well because of the high footfall — the number passing their doors. The Government must consider what is happening in places such as Achill and the need to give rural hotels a means to survive. Many businesses have closed owing to the shortness of the season and the fact that costs are the same as in O'Connell Street whereas the number of customers is lower.

If the Government wants tourists to visit places like Achill, it must consider what it can do for such areas. It should examine the role of Ireland West Airport Knock in the context of balanced regional development. Some 500,000 people visit the west each year through Knock Airport whereas 25 million visit the east and south and 6 million visit Northern Ireland through the airports in those regions. Given that the population of the Border, midlands and west region is almost the same as that of Northern Ireland, one must ask why there is this discrepancy. The reason is lack of investment by the Government. All that Knock Airport received from Government was €5 million. If the airport had received the basic Aer Rianta payment of €3 per passenger during the years, Knock Airport would have received approximately €119 million, or up to €190 million at a higher rate per passenger. Instead, it got €5 million.

How can businesses, hotels and shops in the area compete when the Government has not made the required investment? Knock Airport has specific needs in the coming years for which it requires €29 million. This investment should be made because Knock Airport is a major catalyst for the development of the west. Considering that there is a €3.5 billion underspend——

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