James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. As he knows, I have raised this issue a number of times since I was elected to the Dáil. There are only two counties outside of Dublin which are excluded from the CLÁR programme - Kildare and Wexford. That is partially because the CLÁR programme is still based on the 2002 census. We have had three censuses since then. A number of areas in Wexford would have been eligible for the CLÁR programme but have been excluded because of the reliance on the 2002 census. That has been deeply unfair to Wexford especially as it is consistently and unfortunately the third or fourth worst county in any assessment of disadvantage or socioeconomic assessment. To be excluded from a source of income is quite unfortunate.

To highlight another matter, CLÁR sometimes masks areas of concern. In areas along the south coast and into Wexford where there has been depopulation of young people, the overall population tends to remain stagnant because many retirees move down. Those retirees are very welcome but they can sometimes mask depopulation due to the departure of young people. Without young people our rural areas simply cannot progress. Perhaps the Minister might look at that in the future.

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