Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I agree with the motion, but I would also have to say that the current Government does not have a monopoly on destroying rural Ireland. I come from Castlerea in County Roscommon. As the years go by, bit by bit we become smaller and smaller. There is a road - they call it the Ballymoe Road - out of Castlerea on the way to Roscommon and there is a shop there called Mannion's. I always remember asking my parents why one would put a shop there and who would ever go into it, stating that they must have been daft. There were people who used that shop at one stage. Taking it one step further, a village near me called Castleplunkett used have three shops. I used be a little baffled, wondering what would one do with three shops there. The answer is "Nothing", because they have all closed down. Moving on to a slightly bigger town, Ballinlough had approximately ten shops at one stage and now it is down to one. Then one moves on to a bigger town called Boyle, which had any amount of shops. People used travel from all over the country to it - similar to my own town - but nearly every one of those shops has closed down. I wonder at what stage someone will do something about the fact that rural Ireland is dying.

I hear this rubbish that people do not want to live in the countryside; they want to move to cities and they want to go to other areas. This is not a fact. The reality is that we have no choice. No more than the 19 out of the 20 in my family and my wife's family who had to leave our area, the same is the case for many other friends of mine. As I stated at the outset, the Government does not have a monopoly on ruining and destroying rural Ireland.

What I would like to see is someone coming up with a plan to save rural Ireland because it is an excellent place to live and to bring up one's kids.

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