Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister was already supposed to have responsibility, as a Minister of State, for rural affairs. Unfortunately, it seems to have been a rather empty Ministry as there have been no changes to rural Ireland. I appreciate and respect the Minister, and he knows I do. Anything I am saying is not about the Minister personally, because I know the type of worker he is and the reputation he has for being not just a good representative but an excellent one. I acknowledge that.

The Minister knows the obsession I have about the divide between urban and rural Ireland. I have said it consistently since I came to this House. Many people think the world stops at the Red Cow roundabout. Many officials working in Dublin think that. They think there is nothing outside the Pale.

I will always acknowledge when good things happen. I acknowledge that the programme for Government uses the word "rural" 74 times. It was not in the previous programme for Government. That is why the Government fell spectacularly at the most recent general election. It was because of its lack of interest in rural Ireland. I am not blaming the Minister for that. He Minister was probably one of the people in the Government who were fighting for rural Ireland, if we want to tell the truth about it. When the previous Government thought it was a good idea to do away with our town councils, I imagine the Minister did not agree with that decision.

The urban-rural divide still exists and it is only getting bigger. We have problems with rural transport, centralisation and ambulance services. Who in his right mind could ever defend or try to say that it was a good idea to centralise our ambulance controls and take away the local knowledge we have in County Kerry when it comes to managing our ambulances and our ambulance service? Who thought it was a good idea to set up the service here in Dublin in a disused fire station? There was total chaos for the first number of months. When a call went in from a certain townland in County Kerry, the first ambulance that was sent out was to the same townland in Cork. The people were wondering why they were waiting for an ambulance. This is what we get out of centralisation. This is what happens.

Some genius thought it was a good idea to centralise the processing of medical cards and take it away from our local inspectors. In many cases, those local inspectors had such local knowledge that when an application came in for a medical card, the person working in the office knew the family involved and knew whether it was a serious case or a not so serious case. We lost all that local knowledge. I am fearful and I want to put it on the record of the House today, because I work a great deal with our social welfare inspectors and I have tremendous respect for them, as does the Minister and any proper Member. They work with the Department of Social Protection in our communities. They are a great group of people who have local knowledge. I am fearful for the future of what I term that setup. I am fearful that it too will be centralised. The Minister might ask what would make me say that. Is the trend not going that way in recent years? Why would the Department not do it?

If we were to go down that road, the local knowledge would be lost along with the person who knows the family background and situations and the personal difficulties which people might be having in their lives whether through illness, accidents or tragedies. The local community officers are part of the bedrock of our communities because they live in the communities and are steeped in the local activities, whether it is the local GAA club or children going to the local school. It is terribly important to retain the network of knowledge which we have.

On broadband, how can we stand over a situation in rural Ireland where not only do we have inadequate broadband, but we do not actually have a mobile phone service? There are places in the county which I represent where there was excellent mobile phone coverage before. Now there is no coverage. They are complete blank spots. The Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, knows well that I recognise and appreciate the good work he is doing, but these are basic requirements which we have. We cannot expect jobs to come to rural areas when there is not adequate infrastructure such as broadband and other basics.

We have to look at business rates in rural Ireland. People are being rated out of business. As the Minister knows, there is a trawl going on in this country. I am always mindful to say I have a small shop on the side of the road in case anybody would say that I have a conflict of interest. I have been paying rates for 30 years and I have no problem doing so, provided the rates are not so extraordinary that they would force a person out of business. The Minister knows there is a review ongoing at present and that many people who own service stations have seen their rates increase by enormous figures such as 20%, 30% or 40%. That is unsustainable. I have been dealing with people around the country who have come to me about this issue and who have said that it will put them out of business.

On the closure of post offices, I was the first person to ever stand in this House and say that it was my honest opinion that 700 or 800 post offices could close. I was challenged at the time by people in the media who thought that it was ridiculous and wondered how I could say such a thing. Well, it is happening. It is happening under our noses. I told my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group yesterday of one person who came up for review. The review meant that their income decreased by €18,000. How could any person in business sustain an €18,000 cut in their basic income? It is beyond belief. It cannot happen. I want to put on the record that this idea of the Government closing our post offices is false. No such thing happens. I own a small post office. The Government will not close my post office. The person who will close it is myself. The reason I would be forced to do so is a lack of Government intervention.

I am not standing here on behalf of postmasters saying that we want money from the the Minister, Deputy Ring, or from the Minister, Deputy Naughten, or from the Government. We do not want a handout. We want the Government to hand us work. We want it to keep our offices busy. That is what we are seeking. We want footfall to go through. This is a common-sense approach. We do not have the begging bowl out. We are not saying the Government must help us or we will be destroyed. That is not the case. We want the Government to proactively engage in helping. A Private Members' motion was brought before this House and was unanimously supported. If the thrust of that motion was to be implemented it would save our rural post office network. We have 1,140 post offices. If we do not act we will lose 700 or 800 of them. To prove the point, 10,000 post offices were lost in England through inaction. They were going to be lost in New Zealand but were not because action was taken in time. Community banking was brought in, which saved the post offices.

Rural Ireland is dying and is being allowed to die. The only things which are sustaining rural Ireland are the poor farmers who are struggling and trying to keep their gates opening and closing, and the people involved in tourism. There are great people, of whom I am terribly proud, running small guesthouses and hotels, little shops or little pubs and who are working tremendously hard. There is no such thing as a minimum wage. They might have no wage. They are only just barely managing to pay to their way, to pay their bills and to keep the door open. There is nothing fancy about their lifestyles. There are just continuing to do what their parents and grandparents did, which was to keep the door of the pub, shop or hotel open. We have to commend those people who provide great service to our tourism sector.

All the fancy plans in the world are great to look at, as are the lovely photographs, but money talks. We must have serious investment in rural Ireland. Rural Ireland will continue to decline. The Government should get serious about it. We want the Minister for Rural and Community Development to invest, to be proactive and to look at things we have asked him to do. They are sensible and practical things. If I was to prioritise one issue it would be the issue of the post offices. I know it might not now be under the direct responsibility of the Minister but I know he will work with the Minister, Deputy Naughten, in that regard. They can be saved and to do so would show that the Government will be proactive, that it will not let the ball slip and that it will ensure that the great service which has been provided by postmasters and postmistresses over the years will continue into the future. If we lose it, it will be gone forever and we will be sorry forever. We will not be able to bring them back.

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