Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Communications, Climate Action and the Environment - broadband is a major issue - Rural and Community Development and Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht all have an important role in this matter. Members welcome the opportunity to put in place a national planning framework that will work for all regions and every community in the country from Malin Head to Dunmore East and from south Kerry to north Antrim because there has to be a crossover and we must work closely with the Northern Ireland authorities. There is a need for balanced development throughout the country. That is not what is on offer here as the framework is more focused on urban centres than on rural areas. Many Deputies represent rural constituencies and we have an obligation to ensure that such communities receive a fair and equitable share of any funding that becomes available between now and 2040. Expenditure on rural Ireland needs to be front-loaded because it cannot wait until 2030 or 2040 for investment.

It is alarming that apart from the first paragraph of the Minister's address on this issue, which referred to realising the potential of our rural regions and areas, there is little reference to doing something tangible for rural areas. It is mentioned but only as a cosmetic exercise. The plan does not contain any fresh thinking or new ideas on how to rejuvenate and rebuild rural communities that have been devastated in recent years.

The Minister in his speech correctly stated that the status quocannot hold and further correctly identified that the regions in Europe are being depleted. That is a fact, but we must do something about it. We cannot just concentrate on the three regions, the cities and the larger towns. I come from a county in which the towns are much smaller than those to which Deputy Rabbitte referred. They are not in the bracket of 1,500 to 10,000. In outlining his vision for 2040, the Minister must ensure more focus on rural Ireland. It must be prioritised and we must look in particular at rural planning. I have been in public life every calendar year since 1979 except for 2015, and to this day, top of my priority list each week here in the national Parliament is planning. It is a major issue in rural Ireland to have to comply with the national planning guidelines. I wonder just how many Deputies in government welcomed the decree of the European courts recently in respect of the Flemish case. There must be a balance between those who are from the area and others. In my county's development plan, priority is given to those from the area, but now it looks as if all must be treated equally. If all are to be treated equally, do we put in place regulations that mean no one gets planning and therefore everyone will be treated equally then? We must find a way to give priority to our own people and those who grew up and lived in the area. Equally as important are those who had to emigrate because of the economic decline over the years, perhaps going back to the 1940s and 1950s. There are families coming home now to settle down in rural Ireland. That is for another day, but we must concentrate on it. It is becoming increasingly difficult in rural Ireland, so we must ensure we do something about this. We are trying to use the towns or cities as a magnet to attract people to areas surrounding those towns. If people want to build in rural Ireland and are prepared to pay for and put in the roads, the new types of septic tanks and the treatment facilities, we should encourage them to do so. When we look at the plans for a house, we take a very subjective view. If three planners were put into three different rooms and were all given the same planning application, I am quite sure that each would come out with a different view.

I will not spend time on ribbon developments. I get annoyed when I see that one must build six houses and then leave a gap before building another six. What about the person who owns the gap, who owns that field? He or she must forfeit it to the State. Then it is of no value to him or her whatsoever. When I first examined the Minister's intentions and direction, I was concerned about the definition of "rural". The word is defined as a small number of regions outside Dublin. We must have balanced rural development, but my fear is that it does not appear that this will happen. We cannot make the mistake made in the UK in the 1960s and ban one-off housing in rural settlements. We need to be careful where we are heading. It is no use stating that we cannot continue with the status quo. We say we cannot hold to the status quo, yet we proceed down the same track of more of the same. The real decisions must be made, and these decisions concern the way in which we develop our rural areas. Our local authorities must have a major input into this, as must our communities, and there must be greater and greater consultation.

When I think of rural development, I think in particular of the airports in rural Ireland that were provided at a time when not much funding was available. I think of Donegal Airport in west Donegal, one of the top ten most attractive airports in the world into which to land, with two regular flights to Donegal. Donegal Airport cannot and will not survive if the Government decides to change in any way the public service obligations. I think this will happen in the case of Kerry Airport as well, but we will look at that very closely. These airports are important and they will become more important because of the oil exploration happening in the north west of the country.

I refer to the smart growth fund provided for in the framework to support strategic growth in renewables in underutilised parts of towns. This must also help growth in rural areas. I am pleased that connectivity is very much part of the plan. Connectivity must connect internationally and nationally. When I think of most rural and remote areas, if broadband is rolled out, as is the plan, although I think it is being pushed back, it should get into every town and village in this country. We are told that, as a result of this plan, there will be 600,000 extra jobs based on the knowledge economy. They do not all have to be in the cities or larger towns. They can find their way out to the most rural towns. This will help to improve the opportunities to have global companies in the regions. We have many of these in the country. I think of those in Donegal, specifically Randox in my own town of Dungloe.

All of us could do with more time but mine is limited. We should concentrate on a necklace of marinas around the country. It would attract so many who are interested in leisure tourism. It could start in Donegal and find its way down through the west and right around the coast. This would attract jobs to the most rural and peripheral parts of the country where there is no other source of job creation.

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