Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I disagree with the Deputy; rural Ireland is not dead. There have never been as many people working and living in rural Ireland. However, the small shops and little businesses that once were there are no longer present because people are shopping with their feet. People are working in towns and going home to rural Ireland in the evening, and are using the bigger outlets. That is a decision people are making and I do not criticise it. People have rights. They work hard, pay their taxes, and have an opportunity to go and live where they want to live and work where they want to work. Where they spend their money is their business. Rural Ireland is alive and well. I listen to this kind of talk all the time. Post offices were discussed at length over the summer. The reason post offices are closing is they are not being used. I heard the postmistress in my local area speaking on local radio recently. She held a public meeting two years ago at which she was told by local people that they would use her post office. She has said she is sorry for the few elderly people who were depending on it but she is not sorry for closing her post office, because people did not use it. There is no answer to that.

Returning to the rural regeneration and development fund, there is an urban regeneration scheme and a rural one. The urban scheme consists of €2 billion for towns with a population of 10,000 or more. The rural scheme will apply to towns with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. To me, the most effective scheme is the town and village renewal scheme, and the Deputy knows this. I refer also to the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme. The Deputy's own town of Drumshanbo has received €700,000 from my Department. The boardwalk attracted 80,000 visitors last year. Some eight new businesses were created around that. We have to do business differently in rural Ireland now. People say that rural Ireland is dead. It is not dead. We have fine, vibrant and good people working in rural Ireland.

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