Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Over the past five or six years, we have consistently raised the new pressures on rural Ireland and the regions and the degree to which large sections of the country have felt alienated from the centre and have not experienced the level of economic development that they could have had and that they need. It must be said that the proposed rural action plan is a damp squib. The plans for towns and villages are devoid of any concrete actions. In fact, the plan for towns basically calls on local communities to sort things out for themselves by using a brief planning guide. I heard the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation speak about steps one and two in an interview. People do not need that patronising guide on how to develop.

The threat Brexit poses to rural and provincial Ireland, particularly the agrifood industry, is of an entirely new scale. The bulk of merchandised goods exported to Great Britain are located in regions outside Dublin, as was pointed out in the ESRI and the Department of Finance reports. Again, if we look through the Article 50 document published, we do not find any new proposals or funding to help the worst impacted areas or industries. If we look at the equine industry, we can see that there has been no affirmative action by the Government. Tillage farming presented a perfect opportunity to do something early this year, but nothing was done for tillage farmers. We are blue in the face from hearing about broadband. The Taoiseach mentioned procurement. Has the tender been issued?

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