Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The reference to an allocation of €1.1 million for County Donegal over the past two years says it all.

In the space of six years, since Fine Gael was elected in 2011, Donegal has experienced the highest rate of population decline in the country, at -1.5%, while every other county bar Sligo and Mayo experienced a population increase. The Minister's county, therefore, experienced a population decrease. This is because the Government has not offered any support to rural areas to address rural population decline.

Rural population decline is both a symptom and cause of the retreat of rural services, including post offices, Garda stations and general practitioners, and most recently the retreat of private sector services, which has left towns such as Ardara with no banking facilities at all. This is all under the Minister's watch.

The root cause of rural population decline is Government policy prioritising urban areas to the detriment of rural towns, privatising essential networks, such as the post office network, and centralising front-line services, such as the Garda force.

What will the Minister do to ensure that these services will be retained in rural areas and that they will remain vibrant? I refer to towns such as Ballybofey and Ardagh, which are not small or rural in nature but which need to be protected to ensure that they can grow.

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