Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Government has a policy of decentralisation, yet Eircom announced last week it is to remove half of its public telephone boxes. At one stage it had 8,500 and now the number has decreased to 4,500. With the next cull, there may be fewer than 2,000. Likewise, post offices are closing in rural areas throughout the State. There are currently some 1,200 in total and they are unevenly spread across the country. The Minister referred to rural transport. If it were not for the Minister and the communities themselves, there would be no transport in rural areas.

We now have a situation where one of the largest retail groups in the country, Superquinn, has had to pull out of Dundalk. In rural areas, small shops are closing because they can no longer compete with larger operators and because rural populations are declining. The Minister must seek to bring as many Government agency services as possible into rural areas. It is important that he have discussions with companies such as Eircom in this regard. It was taxpayers' money that put Eircom's infrastructure in place and it is obliged under law, as overseen by the Commission for Communications Regulation, to provide a certain element of public service. It is public service that is missing in this country. What does the Minister intend to do in this regard? Semi-State companies have a public service obligation.

The Minister has eliminated the hub towns from the Leader programme with the result that they cannot draw down any funding. This is causing a significant problem in many rural towns.

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