Dáil debates

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Rural and Community Development: Statements

 

7:30 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I regret that we are only making statements on rural development. I would prefer it if we were considering the schemes the Government has rolled out, deciding on the action plans for every six months and considering how we are going to comply with them. I acknowledge, as other speakers have, the passion and honesty of the Minister. However, there is a lack of an overall integrated plan and a sense of urgency. As the Minister said, our towns and villages are at the heart of our rural communities and should be places in which people can live and raise their families in high-quality environments. I could not disagree with him. I represent Galway west and south Mayo, encompassing both a city and rural areas. Inisbofin and the Aran Islands, Connemara with all its variation from Clifden to the Irish speaking area, right over to Kilmaine and Shrule are all in my constituency, and I have witnessed decimation of those rural areas. I acknowledge the positive schemes the Minister has put in place.

Tomorrow I will attend the Committee on Public Accounts. I read the agenda, and a sentence jumped out at me, which said that from a governance and planning perspective, good policies start with good data. Good data are the lifeblood of decision-making and the basis for accountability. That is what is missing here. We either have the data and do not act on it or we do not have the data. We have the data for islands.

A review was carried out in April 2017, illustrating my point that there is no sense of urgency. It was a very good review, involving full consultation with islanders all over the country, but it was not published until pressure was put on the Department by my colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív, and myself. It was finally published at the end of last year. Within that report there are 11 major findings and 71 specific recommendations. One of the recommendations is that any actions taken by the Government should be island-proofed and rural-proofed. That was included in the programme for Government but it has never been acted on. We had a very good review but there was no sense of urgency to implement it, and it had to be extracted from the Department. I acknowledge, as Deputy Martin Kenny said, that this is not just a problem with the Minister's Department but rather applies across the Departments. The islanders came forward and said to the Department of Health that action was needed. This Government has no policy for islands whatsoever. It did not act on this report.

More than 2,846 of them are residing on the islands. We have a number of islands but not all of them are inhabited. Eighteen are singled out because they have no bridge or land connection.

The report found that we had failed in the existing healthcare services. It expressed concern over the lack of contingency and forward planning. Among the recommendations, it suggested that Government policy should be island-proofed, and that a national forum be convened and tasked with implementing the recommendations of the report. It makes practical suggestions that the Health Service Executive should review its primary care facilities on the islands and prioritise its capital plans to include purpose-built premises. All Health Service Executive premises should be fit for purpose. In my area, Inishbofin has been crying out for a health centre for a long time. We have asked repeated parliamentary questions about that and at this stage I almost despair. It has a health centre that is not fit for purpose and yet we want the islanders to live there. A primary care centre is the most basic necessity. The same applies on the Aran Islands.

That is just one example. If the Government were serious about rural development it would proof all its actions to ensure they did not have a detrimental effect. The closure of post offices is a case in point and Galway was particularly affected. I do not hold with the argument that has been made that people have caused the post offices to close; it was a Government decision. In Indreabhán, tá siad le ceangal ansin. Tá na daoine feargach go bhfuil an post office dúnta. They are very cross. They supported the retention of the post office in Indreabhán; they appealed the decision and were not successful. That is just one example. In Galway alone, 18 post offices - the highest number in the country - were closed under that scheme. There was no proper independent appeal system and we could identify no criteria to indicate it was done properly. I know the Minister agrees with what I have said about post offices which are at the heart of the community, but one after another they have closed.

I talked to the Minister earlier in the week about the pilot scheme to encourage residential occupancy in town and village centres, which is a very good scheme. I praised it. The Minister and his officials picked out six towns, which I welcome. However, we are missing the criteria the Minister used to pick those six towns as opposed to six other towns. I accept that he cannot pick every town, but we need an open and accountable way.

What jumped out at me were the Gaeltacht areas. We know that they are in serious difficulty with laghdú leanúnach ó thaobh daonra de. An tseachtain seo, san Irish Times, luadh siad léacht a thug an tOllamh Ó Giollagáin i mBéal Feirste ag cur síos arís ar chomh leochaileach is atá an teanga. The Irish Timesquotes a speech Professor Ó Giollagáin gave in Belfast. He appeared before the Comhchoiste na Gaeilge, na Gaeltachta agus na nOileán. He pointed out the significant population decline in Gaeltacht areas and how we have reached a tipping point. We are at seven on a UN scale and if we reach ten, the Irish language will be gone other than for decorative purposes.

I have a particular interest and passion in the Irish language which is a lifelong learning. While the pilot scheme to encourage residential occupancy in town and village centres is very good, there is no recognition of the urgency of doing something like that in Gaeltacht areas. I would like to go into it in more detail but I cannot because of time limits. I appeal to the Department to be ag obair as lámh a chéile leis an Roinn Cultúir, Oidhreachta agus Gaeltachta to look at the Gaeltacht areas. When the analysis from the pilot scheme is published the Minister should provide the criteria on a factual and scientific basis so that we can see that he is committed.

On Friday a conference will take place on Inis Meáin with participants from all the islands. Every year we go there and we hear the same questions and problems coming up. Without their voluntary work and without the work for which they are not paid very well, there would be no life for rural Ireland and islanders. I think the Minister would appreciate that. That is not a sustainable way to proceed. We need a Government policy that realises the value of keeping rural areas vibrant. Carrowroe in the heart of the Gaeltacht has no hotel. Carna could do with being developed. The same is true on the other side of the county in Kilmaine and Shrule. When we stood for election in 2016 we promised that we would highlight what was happening in rural areas. I am from Galway and I welcome the development of Galway but it must be done in a sustainable way and certainly not at the expense of Kilmaine, Shrule and Carna.

I had the privilege to work in a different capacity in Ballinasloe years ago. That town, which is outside my constituency, has a harbour and a railway station. Why is the Government not picking that town to develop? Why would it allow that town to go under when it is on the railway line to Galway and people could sustainably travel into the city?

There are issues with broadband and rural transport. With the absence of connection, we are forcing people into towns and forcing them into cars. Everybody has admitted that Galway city is at breaking point with traffic. We need to stop encouraging people coming into larger towns and make it sustainable for them to live in smaller towns and villages.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.