Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the work of Kieran Mulvey. He did an exceptional job. He is a man of great experience who comes from the midlands and he worked with everyone. It shows the value of appointing an independent commissioner to pull those strands together. His work is very valuable. We are honouring all those pledges, including providing €36 million this year to support the midlands. Of course, it will be for another Government to work on the implementation of Mr. Mulvey's other recommendations, but we have contacted all Departments and the implementation of his report will come under a group chaired within the Department of the Taoiseach, so it will be led from the very heart of the Government. It is also worth recognising that there is accelerated ambition from the European Union for a just transition. The midlands have been included in that process and a territorial plan will be drawn up. As and when money becomes available from the European Union, the midlands will be in a strong position to draw upon it. I am conscious of how Bord na Móna is woven into the community and the suddenness of the change is the reason we in this House and the Government had to respond in this way. That work will continue.

I will seek to obtain additional information for the Deputy on the issue of inland fisheries as I do not have it to hand. He made a very strong case in that regard.

I again thank the Deputy for his continuous support for the national broadband plan. Deputy Michael Moynihan, to whom I did not get a chance to respond, stated that this can be at the heart of a transformation of our society. I believe that is true. One could not envisage a successful future for rural Ireland that did not include high-speed broadband delivered to every home. It is about that more visionary element of looking at where our future can be carved out, and the national broadband plan plays to that more visionary view of the future of rural Ireland. Rural Ireland suffers when many of its traditional aspects are undermined as customs and patterns change but this is infrastructure for the future for rural Ireland.

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