Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan. We will take five minutes each. The list of stuff I could talk about in respect of rural Ireland is probably endless. In the limited time I have, I am going to focus on the rural towns and villages. From my point of view, they are key to making sure that rural life can be maintained. I also want to mention the offshore islands, which are vitally important. I refer particularly to Donegal, Arranmore Island and Tory Island. This is about maintaining the life of rural Ireland. We have to make it possible for people to live and make a living on our offshore islands. That is the only way we can keep them populated. Donegal County Council tried in the 1970s to depopulate Tory Island and we saw where that got them. It is the wrong way to go. We should be making sure people can live and work on the islands and raise their families on them. We have seen on Twitter that the community on Arranmore Island has secured funding from Eir for broadband on the island. In a way, it is sad.

It was necessary to win a competition being run by a private company to secure broadband and then be part of the advertising used by that company. That is what was necessary to secure a service that people in rural Ireland should have as of right. It is a sad reflection on the Dáil and the Government that this is the best hope people have of getting services.

Towns and villages in County Donegal and across the country are vital. The Government should be examining ways to open up these towns and villages. The reason people seek planning permission to build on lands outside towns and villages is that they own the site and developing it can reduce the costs incurred. If reasonable options were available, I believe people would avail of them rather than developing and building in the countryside. There is a simple way to do that. Dunkineely is a small village outside Killybegs where the post office recently closed. Many people live in the countryside around that village but very few live in the heart of it. The Government should address that issue but it will not do so because property and property rights are king. The State, through compulsory purchase orders or some other method, should take ownership of the sites, houses and land in the heart of these villages and make them available to people from the community. Such a policy would mean that people from parishes around Dunkineely could live in the village. This would revitalise the shops and pubs, keep the post office open and allow people to live in their own community. That approach would benefit every village in Donegal.

Fewer than 20 people live on the main street of my home town of Killybegs. The people who own properties in the centre of the town cannot avail of tax benefits. The State, however, could step in, make these properties liveable and get people back living in the hearts of towns and villages. While the population of Killybegs has declined in the past 20 years, the population of the surrounding hinterland has rocketed in the same period. People cannot get sites or land in the towns and villages where they are from, which means they have to build outside the towns and villages if they want to live close to the communities in which they grew up and of which they want to be a part.

The State does not do this because of the crazy notion that property is everything and must be protected at all costs. The Government must do more to protect people and the countryside to ensure we have vibrant, living communities. I have outlined the way to do that and protect the entire countryside. Every Member who contributed named different towns suffering the same experience. People are unable to derive any benefit from the Government's emphasis on the private sector and tax breaks. The State should get involved by opening up these towns and villages and then we will see people returning to live in them.

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