Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this matter, which, particularly in light of the recent local elections and the conversation and consultations we have all had with the electorate, is timely. Voters aired their opinions, aspirations and concerns on the assumption that we would assess and take stock of them on returning to the forums to which we were elected, be it local authorities or Dáil Éireann. We will seek to influence policy in order to deliver to those who have made representations to us.

The Minister of State referred to being anxious to hear the views and observations of his colleagues. I hope and expect that he will take seriously some of what has been stated here and that he will act upon it rather than mouthing the type of platitudes I have heard in recent times. This is a relatively new Department. We were promised that it would assist in rural-proofing other Departments in order to ensure that rural Ireland would be at the centre when it comes to the delivery of policies and initiatives by Government. I am not sure that this is evident when I look at policy implementation in the various Departments. I have picked a few to speak about and elaborate upon in the hope that the Government might see sense and address some of the deficiencies that are plainly obvious to many of us.

The Minister of State also referred to the sense of community that exists and that we have inherited. We hope that sense of community will continue to obtain. It is undoubtedly challenged in today's environment as transport links and access to our cities improve and many of the major employers see fit to locate their operations in those cities.

The first matter up which I wish to touch is primary level education. Primary schools are central to many local communities. There are many small two, three or four-teacher schools in rural areas which are under immense pressure. There are policies within the Department and from Government which refer to aspiring to adhere to the teacher-pupil ratio. That is not evident in many rural schools. As a result of the failure in this regard, many schools are challenged and under pressure.

The focus is always on the larger towns and urban centres where one sees a greater allegiance to that commitment. I met it in Clonmacnoise during the course of my canvass trail in recent weeks. I have been in touch with the Department about it but it is a broader issue that needs to be addressed. There needs to be a commitment and policy needs to be adhered to and implemented, not merely referred to.

The other issue is health. Statements are being taken later on primary care. Our elderly have to be the focus of our efforts to ensure that they can remain their communities and homes as long as is possible. The home help packages and hours are not sufficient. We have been hearing about the GP contract in recent weeks and were told it had been lauded by members of the Government. What is the situation in respect of the rural allowance? Is it sufficient to ensure that out of hours services are provided by clusters of doctors together with the HSE? I am conscious of one service in Birr that was closed down. We were told that it was because the GP contract did not have adequate provisions within the rural allowance to ensure it could provide the service. The bigger picture is that many doctors are not seeking employment in these towns. We were told this GP contract was the answer but I have not seen any evidence from GPs or their communities to assure me that we will see the reinstatement of those services. That is a failure on the part of the Department to ensure that policies and contracts are rural-proofed to address the deficiencies that exist. I heard many Deputies talking about the disabled persons grant and housing adaptation grants to assist those who wish to remain in their homes but do not have the resources to do so because of physical disability or age deficiency. The cost associated with subventing care in nursing homes is far greater than would be the case if there was a concerted effort to provide the sort of funding that would meet the demands that exist. There was no concerted effort, despite the fact that a Department of Rural and Community Development is in place and we were assured it would rural-proof all these issues. I do not see that and it is not evident.

On housing, rural towns and villages of course are under immense pressure. I hate talking them down but it is quite obvious to us all that the centres of these towns and villages are dilapidated and not populated and have lost retail trade. What has this Government done to help? There are town enhancement schemes and public realm improvements, which are welcome, but they are only part of the solution. Welcome as they are, they are very protracted and slow to deliver, with elongated public consultation processes. In this week in which the local elections have finished, I ask the Government to trust its councillors, give them their head and allow them to select these projects themselves. They are at the coalface of their communities and want to improve their communities. They should be allowed to proceed. The process is not rural-proofed by the Department if it is allowed to take far too long. It is all about the announcement, being shovel-ready and having the high-vis jacket. It is never about the implementation. That is the problem.

Other initiatives to assist in the renovation and regeneration of town centre living have failed, as the Minister of State knows. The schemes put in place have not been at all adequate. That must be addressed. We must allow property owners the opportunity to take advantage of such initiatives in order to encourage people back into towns. On local authority housing delivery, a total of eight houses in eight years in my own county speaks for itself. There is no rural-proofing of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, obviously. I have long said that much of the expertise, commitment and professionalism that we have seen previously in local authorities is, unfortunately, not there any more. There is a role for the likes of NAMA in taking on board State lands, employing builders, paying healthy profits, putting the houses in place and leasing them to local authorities for 100 years. It can be done and should be done. It is outside the box thinking, trying to regenerate activities that used to take place within local authorities where much expertise has now been lost. Commitments on affordable housing were given by Government Deputies on foot of last year's budget but were not delivered. Commitments were given on the quadrupling from €2 million to €8 million of local authorities' discretion to provide housing. Again, there has been no progress on this issue. We are expected to take this continuously. We seek improvements and are told they are coming but do not get them. The people cannot stand for that and we cannot stand for it. These measures have to be brought forward a lot quicker.

On infrastructure, roads and broadband are the issues that have to be addressed. We have had good progress on the national primary networks in the last years, with projects delivered on budget and on time. There now needs to be the same focus and attention on the delivery of regional, local and county roads. The Government has to consider the issues pertaining to different regions. In my constituency, 40% of the roads are built on peat foundation yet there is no further discretion for us in respect of maintenance of those roads. We are starting behind the curve all the time. There is no rural-proofing by the Minister of State's Department of the way in which those funds are delivered.

We have spoken about broadband on numerous occasions in the last weeks. It appears that there was an effort by the Government to rush this process in order to provide something for the local elections. It has backfired. I was speaking to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform yesterday, who assured me he will have a contract, notwithstanding many of the issues pertaining to the procurement process and the excessive cost. He says there will be safety valves and triple-lock systems in the contract to ensure that if National Broadband Ireland goes bust, the backers will still be liable and will step in if it goes belly-up. I am not sure that is the case. He said he would insist it be the case. However, if he cannot insist and cannot provide a contract that does that, he will not tell us. Preferred bidder status has been given now and that has a cost associated with it. It is time the Government came clean with that. It is something we need to know. Great cost is associated with all this and with the national development plan, yet there is no commitment from the Government to tell us where the €400 million is being taken from for the overrun in respect of the children's hospital, or where the €400 million overrun in respect of broadband up to 2021 or the €1.5 billion overrun between 2021 and 2027 are coming from. We are told the money will come from future revenues. That is fairy stuff. It either comes from raising taxes, borrowing or current expenditure. The Government should not treat the people like fools. It got its answer last week and will get it again if it continues to do that. It is not a Freddie Mercury job here. It is not a kind of magic. The Government has to come clean and lay it out on the table and on this floor. Then we can get behind it and see if it can work.

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