Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over and over again, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael representatives talk the talk when it comes to standing up for rural Ireland in their constituencies, especially at election time, yet every opportunity they get, they back down. The outcome of these EU negotiations is a perfect example of that. In the midst of a global pandemic, when so many people are suffering here, the Government has gone to Europe and seemingly agreed that Ireland will pay more into the EU budget and get less in return. It is those who rely so much on funding from Europe who will suffer most, namely, farmers and rural communities.

Just two months ago, Commissioner Phil Hogan made great fanfare of how valuable the recovery fund will be for Ireland, with an additional €354 million in Ireland's rural development envelope. That fund has now been halved, which means that Ireland will be robbed of about €177 million in funding. Many rural communities did not recover after the previous economic collapse, not to mention the blow caused to them by Covid-19. Now, when they need more support, the Government has gone to Europe and come home with less. That is simply not acceptable to rural Ireland.

I listened to the Taoiseach earlier during Questions on Promised Legislation when he spoke about the benefits of Ireland's membership of the EU, such as the job creation and the services that it has brought us. In counties such as Roscommon and Galway, however, and throughout the wider western region, we do not see that job creation or those services. It is not Europe that I blame for that; it is the Government here. It is Governments here that have continuously discriminated against the western and north-western region. That was the conclusion of the EU Commission in 2019 when it classed the west and the north west of Ireland as a region in decline, a region not progressing but regressing at a rapid rate. I lay that firmly at the feet of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Giving us a Minister in the west eventually will not cut it. We need urgent and major investment in the west and north-western region and throughout rural towns and villages. That is the only strategy that will sustain families in those rural communities.

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