Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Feighan for his kind comments regarding his town of Boyle. I was glad to hear him speaking about the schemes, including the town and village scheme and the rural regeneration scheme, because it annoys me sometimes when I hear people knocking rural Ireland, not being factual about rural Ireland and not being truthful about the previous Government regarding the investment of funds and the amount of money that went into towns, villages and counties throughout the country. Every town and county got funding from my Department in the last budget. People have short memories.

The Department will be only three years in existence this month. We had a small bit of resistance in the Dáil when I was setting up the Department. I had a bit of difficulty getting the Bill through the House. I must compliment the Seanad, which passed it very quickly, but certain Deputies tried to hold up the Bill. We were here at 11 o'clock one night, and if we did not get it done before 12 a.m., we would have run into difficulty as it would not have been possible to pass it until October, after the summer recess. We got the Department up and running. I say this openly and honestly: we have the finest Department. I want to put this on the record, and I should not but I will, whoever comes into Government, I will see it as a slight on rural Ireland if the Department of Rural and Community Development is not continued. I do not care who goes into Government; that Department must continue.

That Department has a budget for 2020 of €308 million for current spending and €150 million in capital funding. It is responsible for the town and village renewal scheme, the rural regeneration scheme, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and the CLÁR programme. I was glad to hear Deputy Peter Burke talk about those schemes and the difference they have made in towns and villages.

Deputy Tully criticised the amount of funding received by County Cavan. That county got substantial funding from the Government under all those schemes. The Deputy should check the record in that regard. It received substantial funding under the town and village renewal scheme. I was not expecting to get parochial today but, as the Deputy has raised this issue, I will do so. I remember allocating funding for a scheme to open the county up for IDA Ireland. I dealt with several schemes, including the rural regeneration scheme. Under the Government, County Cavan did very well on the rural regeneration scheme, the town and village renewal scheme and the CLÁR programme, and rightly so. Every town in every county got an opportunity under the town and village renewal scheme. In some cases, the local authorities received the funding. In fairness to them, they submitted more applications than the Department could fund.

The town and village renewal scheme and the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme have changed the face of rural Ireland. Let nobody tell me that rural Ireland is not a better place since the Department was set up. It has done a tremendous job in the public realm through the rural regeneration scheme.

It did fantastic work through the broadband scheme that has been the subject of much discussion. Do Deputies remember the difficulties in that regard and that the Government was threatened with elections and that we would not get support if we went ahead with the rural broadband scheme? I, along with others, put the pressure on in Cabinet to ensure that scheme was rolled out. It has worked so well that people are saying that if it had been rolled out sooner, more people could work in rural Ireland. I wish to put on the record that there are now more people living and working in rural Ireland than at any other time since the foundation of the State. It is not me saying it. It is not the Government saying it. That is the case according to figures produced by the Central Statistics Office.

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