Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Small businesses in rural Ireland have been haemorrhaging since Fine Gael came to power. Not only have Government policies failed to support rural economies, an anti-rural sentiment has emerged from its cosy relationship with Fianna Fáil, resulting in a sweeping tide of depopulation and rural retreat, devastating counties like my constituency of Donegal. Thanks to this anti-rural sentiment, post offices, Garda stations, GPs and bank facilities are retreating from towns across rural Ireland. This has had a devastating impact on businesses struggling with new and existing challenges arising from the recession, which in turn devastated local communities. I am not talking about businesses ready to export or IDA-sponsored companies but local coffee shops, hairdressers, butchers, furniture shops and newsagents, businesses that will never be primed for export. These are the businesses that are largely left outside Government supports, yet they are the drivers of local economic growth, creating sustainable local employment across rural communities and helping to maintain rural populations as a result.

Measuring the health of this sector gives an indication of the overall health of the national economy. For this reason, I carried out a survey of small businesses across Donegal and received more than 100 responses. The results were striking and confirmed our deeply held suspicions of current Government policy, which is simply that Fine Gael does not care about rural Ireland. Over 80% of the businesses I polled were concerned about depopulation and the effects that the retreat of rural services will have on their businesses. I raised this with the Minister with responsibility for small business only to be told that endless amounts of money was being poured into tourism development. While support for tourism is most welcome, it fails to target the catalyst for rural economic growth which is local trade. My survey showed that nearly 80% of small businesses rely on local trade while only 13% rely on tourism. I ask the Taoiseach not to quote the unemployment figures for me and tell me they have dropped in Donegal because the Minister did that. It is emigration that has reduced the unemployment figures in Donegal, not economic growth.

The message could not be clearer. Small businesses survive when local businesses are thriving, but the Government's policies have ensured that depopulation continues to be the trend, undermining local trade as much as it is undermining the sustainability of rural towns and villages across the country. Before he spells out a list of what the Government has done for rural Ireland, will the Taoiseach tell me exactly how he intends to curb depopulation, increase local trade and provide real and substantial supports for small businesses across rural Ireland?

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