Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the creation of the new Department of rural and community affairs. Following the negotiations on the programme for Government last year, the Rural Independent Group was very disappointed that we did not get an independent Department to look after rural affairs. I am very happy that with the change of leadership there has been a change of attitude in that regard. The Minister, Deputy Ring, is to be congratulated and he is a very appropriate person to look after such a Ministry. He is embedded in rural Ireland and understands the difficulties, as we all do.

I hope he gets an adequate budget. I know he will have to fight hard to do so. He will also have to fight hard to get proper responsibilities for his Department. I hope other Departments do not land him with all the unpleasant elements they are trying to get rid of. I hope he will be strong enough to resist that and take on proper rural and community development responsibilities.

Some 60% of farmers in Ireland are over the age of 50 - one could almost quote the same statistic for GPs. Certainly we have an ageing population in farming, which is the backbone of rural communities, towns and villages. Teagasc has identified that 40% of farms will not be viable in the future, which is a huge problem for rural Ireland. I hope the Minister will be able to address that and give supports to farmers so that they can continue to provide the unique quality food we produce.

Ireland does not have enough people who see a future in farming, which is a huge problem. A large proportion of our young farmers will discontinue farming in the next decade. We need farm diversification and innovation to give them the opportunity to continue farming in their communities. We have a huge problem with rural depopulation, which has a significant impact on the services our small towns and villages have.

I thank the Minister for taking the time to listen to me earlier.

I know he understood what I was saying. Huge areas of rural Ireland are facing annihilation in the next generation unless we do something about it. The census figures are quite frightening. In County Clare, the population increased by a number of thousands but when one analyses that and drills down into it, one finds that the population in rural areas is declining rapidly. People are moving into the county towns and moving out of the counties into larger urban areas. Rural parts of rural counties are declining but the figure is hidden in the gross population of the county which might not be changing significantly. People are moving into towns and out of rural communities. That must be addressed.

As I said to the Minister earlier, the movement of people from rural communities is putting pressure on urban areas. Cities are bursting at the seams. They do not have the services to deliver for the increased population. I accept that jobs are being created in urban areas and people are moving there, but the services are not there to sustain the population so we really do need to have balanced regional development. Rural depopulation is not just a problem for rural Ireland it is also a problem for urban Ireland. I hope the Minister can get a handle on that. I know that he realises rural Ireland has a lot to offer. It just needs a little bit of support. It is not looking for a handout; it is just looking for support for rural communities to maintain their services.

I spoke to the Minister today about a rural population rejuvenation scheme. I hope that is something we can develop in the future, whereby we can take people from high-pressure housing areas and relocate them on a voluntary basis if they wish to have a change in their quality of life. It would allow people to move from a situation of endless housing lists in high pressure areas, out of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation, and become part of a rural community, support rural communities and services and give them a better quality of life. We propose that rural communities would come together to give supports to people not just to bring people to rural areas and abandon them, but to bring them to a receptive, rural community that would look after them and allow them to become part of the community, thereby supporting schools, post offices and services.

Many speakers have mentioned broadband in the context of rural Ireland. It is disappointing to see that the tendering process for broadband is now being put back until probably 2019. That is a huge disappointment. The mobile phone service in rural areas is appalling and the road structure is crumbling. I know the Minister understands that as well as I do. Rural transport services need to be supported and developed. In County Clare, we have a wonderful service called Clare Bus. It is part of the Irish Rural Link service. It is a lifeline for people, especially those with disabilities, those who are disadvantaged and people who suffer from rural isolation. It is a fantastic resource, but it needs to be supported so that the service can be developed to provide rural transport to other areas of the county and not just the north and east. People are seeking to develop services but they do need infrastructural support.

I will briefly refer to rural GPs. The Minister would be disappointed if I did not. I know he understands that medical services in rural areas are under severe pressure. We need to stimulate the development of rural general practice and bring in a contract that is flexible, and which will attract people to work in rural Ireland. This is not just a problem for rural Ireland; this is a problem being experienced throughout Europe. There are innovative ways of dealing with all of those problems, including rural GP practices, that have been developed in Sweden, Scotland and in the west of France - all the areas where there are similar difficulties - to attract and maintain GPs in rural communities.

We need to develop a community air ambulance service because of the difficulty in getting people in isolated areas urgently to hospitals. A proposal has been put to Government to develop a community air ambulance service which would be deployed within minutes and would bring seriously ill people or those affected by trauma to their nearest casualty department in a matter of minutes as opposed to hours, which is the case currently when one must wait for an ambulance to collect the patient and then travel back to the hospital. I know the Minister understands that as well.

We need to support services such as local pharmacists, public health clinics and post offices, but I will not go into detail on post offices. Rural schools and rural services must be sustained and developed. The focus must be on retaining people who live in rural communities.

We need to develop community housing services for rural people who live in isolated areas. I know the Minister is familiar with the development in Mulranny. We have a similar one in Kilmihil, which was stimulated by looking at Mulranny. We need to look after elderly people and allow them to live out their lives within their community with support in community housing developments, which we must develop because there is such a huge demographic change in Ireland at the moment. We cannot have people going into nursing homes unnecessarily and also blocking up hospital services. We must be able to bring people back into the community as soon as the acute treatments are delivered in a hospital setting.

Deputy Michael Collins referred to the Leader programme, which is a huge issue in rural Ireland. The funding for the Leader programme has been cut and the bureaucracy that is developing is making it unworkable and unsustainable. In County Clare, a total of €6,000 has been allocated in the past year because the level of bureaucracy and audit activity has made the system unworkable.

A cross-departmental approach is required for the new Department. The Minister might act as a signpost for people in rural communities to access services from other Departments because a cross-party integrated approach is needed.

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