Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Cuireann sé áthas orm labhairt ar an rún seo. The Minister spoke about pitting rural Ireland against urban Ireland. As somebody who comes from urban Ireland I believe in justice and if justice is meted out against one section of the community, all of the community will stand by that section. Since this Government came to power there has been a series of announcements that clearly discriminate against and do damage to rural Ireland. These include the reversal of the policy of decentralisation, the refusal to make funds available for waste water services in rural Ireland while spending billions of euro on these services in urban Ireland, along with a whole series of policies, well outlined by my colleagues last night and tonight, which are clearly intended to tear the heart out of rural Ireland and in particular, smaller rural communities. The Government has clearly declared a long war against our communities but if it believes rural Ireland will go down without a fight, it is mistaken.

It would also be true to say that this Government has shown scant regard for more disadvantaged urban communities with its attacks on the weak and vulnerable in the recent budget. Fianna Fáil's commitment to rural Ireland has been consistent from the day of our foundation. We believe that a proper balance must be struck between our rural and urban populations and that this balance is good for both. When in Government, we pursued proactive development policies in rural Ireland and appointed a senior Minister with responsibility for rural development. This Government has no such Minister.

When in government, we published a White Paper on rural development and we developed the CLÁR programme. We pursued spatial policies supportive of rural Ireland, developed the devolved school building scheme that ensured virtually every school in rural Ireland was upgraded, we improved the pupil-teacher ratio in small rural schools, provided water and sewerage schemes, broadband, new health services, the rural social scheme, decentralisation and many other initiatives. The Government, in a few short months, has managed to undo much that was done. It has halted and even reversed decisions on decentralisation. It is refusing to provide basic infrastructure, withdrawing vital services, strangling the life out of our local schools and imposing many new extra charges aimed exclusively at rural area. It is rushing the Water Services Bill through the Houses with unnecessary haste. This legislation will have disastrous consequences for our rural communities.

There is nothing new in the Labour Party's attack on rural areas. The Minister for Education and Skills has long being openly critical of the settlement pattern of rural Ireland, preferring us all to live in towns and cities. We are told by the experts, whom the Government clearly believes, that it is too expensive to provide services in rural areas. We are told rural areas are economically unsustainable, our lifestyle is ecologically damaging and, in any case, we should conform to European norms in the way we live. Each of these propositions can be shown to be false. However, even allowing for this, surely the most important measure of societal success are social outcomes for young people? Any analysis will show that when one compares the average number of students going to third level per 1,000, rural Ireland outscores urban Ireland. Any analysis of drug abuse will also show a lower incidence in rural areas. If we believe our children are our future, surely these are the most important measures?

On the proposition that our settlement pattern and policies are different from the rest of Europe, many other things are different here and should remain so. Historically our society developed in a different way, with our dispersed settlement pattern going back 6,000 years. Nowhere else is the attachment to the Baile Fearainn, civil parish, county and province so strong and nowhere else does this geography, which runs counter to the normal hierarchy of the city, town and village, have so much attachment and loyalty. As island people, we are different in many ways from continental Europe. Nowhere else do they have hurling, football and the GAA, music, dance and Comhaltas, the station mass and the many ties that bind us to our own townland or Baile Fearainn. Those who seek to destroy these differences on the spurious arguments of ecology and efficiency are wrong. Surely the answer to the ecology argument lies in technological developments such as electric cars, micro-generation and solar power?

On the cost of services, unless one totally depopulates the countryside, one must face the truth that the cost of providing rural services decreases as the population rises and increases with population decline. We are told the future lies in cities. I have nothing against cities and believe people have a right to live in them if that is what they want to do. Equally, however, people should have a right to live in the country and enjoy all basic services if that is what they choose to do. What will distinguish the 21st century from the 20th century is that not only will the nature of work change, but increasingly people will be able to work from home or wherever they choose to be. In a global world for many workers choice of location will be more and more a personal matter. While cities will continue to exist, thriving rural areas will co-exist with them.

Os rud é gur ceantracha tuaithe iad mórchuid de na ceantracha Gaeltachta, is ionsaí ar an tuath iad moltaí an Rialtais i leith polasaí teanga an Stáit agus an straitéis 20 bliain freisin. Mar is eol don Aire, an Teachta Howlin, scriosfaidh na moltaí atá curtha ar aghaidh ag an Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna na ceantracha beaga tuaithe mar go ndúnfar go leor scoileanna.

The policy which perhaps epitomises more than any other the attitude of the Government and the Labour Party in particular is the decision to attempt to squeeze the life out of our two, three and four teacher schools. The name of the game is to say one has a choice. Effectively, however, the Government is saying that in the case of any school with fewer than 20 pupils, the one teacher policy that existed before the Fianna Fáil Party entered office in 1997, when it was changed by Deputy Martin, will apply. In practice, the pursuit of this policy effectively forces schools to close because parents will not send children to one teacher schools. The Government is trying to attack three teacher schools to make them two teacher schools and four teacher schools to make them three teacher schools. It is tearing the heart out of rural Ireland. Parents in rural communities will not accept this as they know that communities die when schools close because people will not live far away from schools. We will oppose this policy with every sinew we can muster because it is retrograde, negative and defies the logic of educational outcomes. All surveys show that rural schools produce many of our top graduates and are disproportionately represented in our universities. All the statistics show that closing rural schools will, in terms of future generations, kill the goose that laid the golden egg of a well educated population about which we boast around the world. A disproportionate number of those who drive the large multinationals attended small rural schools.

Political parties will have to stand up and declare where they stand on rural issues.

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