Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister's passion for his work. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which had a full Cabinet Minister, was abolished in 2011 and reinstated in 2017. My party established the Department a long time ago.

The Minister spoke about rural development, the challenges facing rural Ireland and what we need to do. Many of the traditions in rural Ireland have been chipped away at and challenged for a long time. If we are to be realistic about a debate on rural Ireland, we need to make sure young people stay in rural communities. Since the introduction of free education 50 years ago, we have had a fantastic education system in urban and rural communities. In rural areas in particular there are some fantastic schools. There are small schools and schools where kids who have challenges fit in better, develop better and a lead a fulfilled life.

We start with young people. One of the first challenges they face is securing planning permission. Deputies often speak about this issue. We have to be realistic and accept there are challenges with planning permission and try to ensure that young people in rural areas can get planning permission. We have to challenge the system on this because we have seen the overload caused by the drive urbanisation. Planners tell us this is way to do it but we have followed that for many decades to our detriment. It has not been the right way to do it. We should ensure that our towns and villages are encouraged to be places where young people can live.

I know broadband is not in the remit of this Department but if we are to be realistic about ensuring that young people set up home and start families in rural areas and these communities remain viable, we must tackle broadband head on. I raised this as a Topical Issue Matter last night and the answer I got did not encourage me to believe there will be a broadband plan in the near future. We have to accept that this presents a serious challenge. Many of the small companies employing between 50 and 100 people are at the top of their game in respect of their products. To take three small companies around Kanturk, Avonmore Electric, which we visited last year, Ashgrove and O'Flynn Medical have been acknowledged by their peers as being way out there. They are exporting across the Continent and beyond. These companies point out that broadband, or its equivalent, costs them €800 a month, whereas in Dublin and other places it costs only €50. That is a competitive challenge that has to be faced. Right across rural Ireland, companies are competing in world markets and they are as good as companies in other places but broadband and planning issues make the challenge of keeping them in rural communities even bigger.

These companies are dotted across the country. The Minister knows as well as I do that if they were to apply for planning permission today, the planners would require them to move into the centre of the town or to a settlement. This is the type of nonsense that is going on. These companies must be encouraged. I know Enterprise Ireland is working with many of them but it must work better with them and ensure they are not just located in Dublin or on the east coast. Rural communities can provide employees that are as good, if not better, than anywhere else in the world.

The Minister spoke briefly about LEADER funding. Measured by any yardstick, the decisions taken five years ago on LEADER funding have slowed down the amount of money provided for community projects. Everyone associated with LEADER companies, including board members and chief executives, have come up with brilliant ideas to encourage initiative in rural communities. No money should be kept back from meeting their needs, whether in business, social life or leisure.

Kanturk, Millstreet, Charleville and Newmarket have been market towns for generations. They have served their rural hinterlands and should continue to do so. In some of the town centres there is much dereliction and many buildings that are not being used. From a layman's point of view, there are a whole pile of buildings that are not being used in towns and villages. The shortage of housing is a challenge for all of us. It does not only affect major urban centres. Something must be done in this regard and not only a pilot project. The Minister may not admit it but the town renewal scheme introduced some 20 years ago gave people an incentive to develop properties in town centres. Something needs to be done to try to encourage people. Dereliction is not just a feature of the four towns I mentioned but also affects villages where anyone driving through will see boarded up properties. We should introduce measures to encourage temporary letting and help people to get on the property ladder. There are challenges that have to be addressed.

While agriculture does not fall within the remit of the Minister, it is an issue for rural Ireland and presents major challenges. Thankfully, the dairy industry is doing well and people who made the decision to expand in recent years are able to sustain the debt they accrued. However, many farmers in the beef sector and with more marginal land are giving up and walking away from agriculture. This will lead to land abandonment, which is as much an issue on less marginal land as it is on marginal land.

Trees are taking over from people in some areas. In Rockchapel, 60% of the land in the parish has been planted. That is not acceptable. We want people and vibrant communities, rather than having trees everywhere. Young people will live in these communities. The greater Duhallow region, which I know well, mirrors many rural communities across the country. If we give young people jobs and provide broadband services that enable them to work at home two or three days per week and avoid commuting, they will live in rural communities. I challenge environmentalists on all of the nonsense we hear about once-off houses. The people who were granted planning permission in rural areas in the past ten, 15 or 20 years are adding to their communities. They are involved in many voluntary and community activities, including GAA clubs, which are the backbone of communities. We have to address that issue as well. I stress again the need to address broadband, LEADER funding, agriculture and dereliction in town centres to encourage people to live in rural Ireland. We must accept that rural areas can deliver services and quality of life that are as good as elsewhere.

If all the young people in rural communities leave, we will have an issue with care of the elderly in generations to come. The intergenerational issue is fiercely important. This will lead to estates in cities and towns being of one particular generation. I thank the Minister for the opportunity. I am only really opening up and I could talk for hours.

See this speech in context