Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Irish proverb - ar scáth a cheile a mhaireann na daoine - people live in each others shadows, was certainly true of rural communities in the past. We saw the importance of meitheal, neighbours looking out for each other, with a deep sense of who they were, where they wanted to be and with a vision to better one another's quality of life. However, despite all the modern technological advances, whether they be in transport or communications, in our busy modern world the shadow that is growing darker is rural remoteness from central services. If I had one ask, it would be to address the issue of no-speed broadband. Some 500,000 households are waiting on services. Broadband was planned to be rolled out ten years ago. The national broadband plan, NBP, was amended in 2012 but still half a million homes are waiting for the service. In addition, there is poor mobile phone coverage in my community, particularly in remote areas such as Cooley Peninsula, which causes major problems and impacts on people's daily business with such intermittent coverage. Along the Border region, there is the issue of call dropout, especially if one is lives in a coastal region or is business that involves crossing the Border.

Curtailment and the axing of post office services, bank facilities, health services, GP services and Garda presence have been the order of the day. We in this House need to commit to no further stripping or depletion of our rural communities.

Rural isolation with the decline in pubs and other facilities have created a remoteness and additional mental health problems and loneliness. The massive imbalance in investment in economic growth and the growth concentration in the greater Dublin area and urban centres has meant that many rural areas in Ireland are on a much lower rung of that economic development ladder. While my region has benefitted greatly from job announcements, the fact that 50% of IDA Ireland site visits are still in the greater Dublin area is worrying. I want to see particularly in my region more support for the promotion of the M1 corridor, highlighting this region's attractiveness in its proximity to three airports, rail services and seas ports and the fact that we are an equidistance between Belfast and Dublin city.

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As others have mentioned, it is essential that no curtailment occurs in community employment schemes, Tús and the rural social scheme. In fact, they should be enhanced to ensure that where little work opportunity exists, the skills and opportunities in our rural communities are enhanced and the people get the opportunity to avail of these schemes which are often the largest employer in rural communities. The contributions that are given to the Tidy Towns, clubs and organisations have been recognised but they need to be further recognised. In fact, with regard to the issue of disability in all our communities, particularly rural communities, people need to be located close to where they can get gainful employment and recognition. Furthermore, there is the whole issue of people in their late 50s who, having probably given themselves a hard time, need to go into pre-retirement mode and to give their skills at a slower pace to their communities. One instance of this are the men's sheds, which are a prime example of self-help and which need to be further expanded.

We have many excellent schemes. While I laud the Minister for those he has produced, the process is often far too cumbersome for small businesses, self-help groups and others, who find it too difficult to negotiate the schemes. We have already highlighted the underspend in the LEADER programme. In my own community only 19% of the money available has been spent, which equates to approximately €1 million of the €6 million available. That is testimony to the fact people find it difficult, so we need to map out a simpler way for people to access this funding.

While I do not want to refer to the whole issue of reducing rates in small towns and villages to encourage re-enhancement of those places, I could go on about vacant dwelling houses, which I have often spoken of, and equally the need to be more proactive in regard to rural one-off housing. We could look at the issue of providing planning permission for eco-friendly buildings. We know of the decline in farm incomes and the issue of rural crime, which has been mentioned. The Government action plan for rural development is the fourth rural plan in 33 months. While these reports are all well and good, we need real action on the ground, with proper long-term vision and planning to halt growing depopulation.

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