Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I believe the Minister is a very fair-minded person. By any objective analysis, he has always been distributional in terms of his ethos and of funding across the State. A point was made earlier about urban renewal. There needs to be new thinking around tackling the level of degradation of buildings, particularly in urban areas, villages and towns where there is a rural hinterland. I refer to areas in which buildings have been left abandoned, there are absentee landlords, and there is an absolute need for a coherent policy around incentivising people to come back to live again in the main streets in our towns and villages. We have all witnessed the level of degradation of certain buildings within towns. It seems we are powerless to intervene with a local authority or with the owners of these buildings to place an onus on them to ensure they can enhance the public realm to which the Minister referred. To be fair, by any objective analysis, the town and village renewal schemes have proven to be quite successful. Credit is due there. The point Deputy Tully was making was around that level of degradation of certain parts of towns and streets. I support her contention.

I also share the concerns that were raised by Deputies Michael and Aindrias Moynihan from Cork North-West in respect of the 5 km rule. In urban areas, we have all witnessed people congregating, young people in particular. It is hard to blame them in certain respects, but let us be honest that the social distancing rules are being flouted. It is self-evident. I am not going to argue against a bunch of young people if they want to get together. There are rules in place and the relevant authority to enforce them is An Garda Síochána. However, it is also the case that somebody cannot visit somebody else in a rural area such as a grandmother or grandfather. Grandparents are not able to see their grandchildren at the moment by dint of the fact that they live more than 5 km away. There is an inequity there. It is unfair. I ask that the Minister use his very influential and strong voice at Cabinet to articulate these viewpoints, as I am sure he has. It is having an effect in rural communities in particular or, for example, where a son or daughter lives with his or her children in an urban area but wants to travel beyond the 20 km to visit a grandparent. Perhaps the Cabinet could take a look at that again.

I also wish to raise the scheme for mná tí in Gaeltacht areas. I know it is not the Minister's line Department but I am sure he will have a view on the scéim na bhfoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge, which provides for up to 27,000 students. It is a per diempayment for the bean an tí for students who are learning in Irish colleges. We know that the Irish colleges are not going to be operational this summer. Will the Minister give us a sense of whether the Government has given any consideration to providing some degree of compensation to the mná tí who host these students every year and who will have lost a significant amount of income? They are in our rural communities and Gaeltacht areas. We know there is a massive multiplier effect as a result of these payments to mná tí in their local communities. Have the Minister or his colleagues given any consideration to providing some sort of compensation to the mná tí for the loss of income they will incur during the summer period?

See this speech in context