Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm go bhfuil an tAire Stáit anseo tráthnóna. Mar dhuine as Chonamara agus atá ina chónaí i gConamara, tuigfidh sé cén fáth go bhfuil díomá orm maidir leis an bplean seo.

I feel sorry for the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, in terms of the way in which he has been put in the position of trying to defend a plan that is literally just a reheated dinner. Not only is it a reheated dinner from yesterday, it is one from months and years ago. Basically, the Departments - including the Minister of State's own Department - have listed all their actions and said that, inevitably, every action they are taking or proposing to take is obviously going to have some effect in rural Ireland. When one analyses the plan, however, one discovers that it contains nothing new. If there is anything new in the plan, it is a promise to spend €20 million a year in 600 towns, which is €33,000 per town. As someone who is involved in plenty of these schemes, I believe we should be putting money into them. An average community centre costs over €1 million. The Minister of State opened a community centre recently in Cong that cost over €1 million. That is the reality. Funding of €33,000 would not pay for the tarmacadam footpath outside a community centre. Some work is being done in the village nearest to where I live, Corr na Móna. This work is being done by the community. If it was being done by the local authority, we would be talking about funding of a few hundred thousand euro for one footpath. These are real costs.

When we look at the action plan for rural development, it is interesting that costings are not provided in respect of the extra measures to be delivered over the next three years. There is something that is even more chilling is the fact that it appears to be a case of "Thank you very much for the plan for rural towns and villages; now can we have a plan for rural Ireland?" I cannot see any significant strategic approach to some issues. For example, the first question one is asked at any meeting in a rural area relates to roads. All we get is a rehash of whatever major plans the Government has for the main routes. The Minister of State and I know that the reality is that our regional and county roads need upgrades if business is to be attracted. There is nothing in the plan about putting sewage systems into those towns and villages that do not have them. There is nothing about extending water supplies to those houses in the State that do not have a connection, either through a group water scheme or the main supply. The reality in respect of the rural broadband scheme is very simple. In the next two years, private companies - with no State assistance - will connect 300,000 properties to high-speed broadband and in many cases to e-fibre. I welcome that, even though in the newspapers this week the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works somehow managed to criticise the moves. In the same period, we will be lucky if the Government manages to sign a contract in respect of the national broadband scheme.

The reality is that the network must be remapped. I have a question for the Minister of State in that regard. The Government must remap all the work for the umpteenth time, when everybody has known for five years that the answer to this problem is the running of a little hair-like line into every house and business in the State at a net cost to the Exchequer of about one fifth of the proposed cost of bringing water to Dublin from the Shannon. When I read the plan-----

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