Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is all related.

I live in rural Ireland. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle refers to traffic. If a village is on the wane, it is not attractive for any transport company to service it. If there is no transport in or out of it, no one can go anywhere. Are we just going to carry on as if this will work itself out or is it possible we might get a Government that will some day say that things could be different and better organised and that there is a better way of approaching the way in which the State treats rural Ireland. There is a better way but it will require different thinking.

If I were back building, I would build in Dublin, which is where I was building before, because that is where the work is. I do not blame people for coming to Dublin to make a living because this is where a living is made. The N11 is getting busy every morning again because there is no work in Wexford and we still have over 15% unemployment. I listen to Ministers here tell me weekly that the national figure has fallen under 6%. I am sorry, but it is still over 15% in Wexford. The N11 is getting busy again with people having to drive up and down every day for work in Dublin. The idea that they might find accommodation in Dublin while working up here during the week was a runner in the past but is a non-runner now. It is out of the question because we have a housing crisis and rental costs have gone off the Richter scale because they are unregulated. We do not regulate the rental market or the way in which we supply housing, and there is a price to be paid for this. We talk about addressing climate issues, yet we are clogging up the roads because we will not create work in places such as Wexford and we are forcing the people in Wexford to travel to Dublin, 160 km from where I live, to find work. They cannot afford accommodation in Dublin so they drive up and down every day. This is not great for the environment. In 2007, at the height of the boom, there were 50% more Wexford people working outside of the county than in it, and we are going back there. More and more people are leaving the county again and having to go to Dublin. There is a serious lack of joined-up thinking in the Government's approach to rural Ireland, and that is a fact.

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