Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The community and regional development of rural Ireland must be prioritised and well-funded if we are serious about protecting and sustaining our rural communities. The recent closure of post offices, rural Garda stations and the decline in funding in recent years, combined with villages losing their parishioners to emigration, sadly, has taken its toll on rural Ireland.

The Government's funding commitment to the new rural regeneration fund is a step in the right direction. However, some of these grants apply to a population of 10,000 or under. This means slightly bigger rural market towns, although they contain areas of disadvantage and deprivation, are over the threshold. This anomaly must be addressed. LEADER funding is a vital cog in the development of our rural communities. There is need for re-examination of the cluttered bureaucratic system which favours those who are well-equipped to handle the paperwork over those who are not. This applies in particular to community volunteers involved in the social inclusion projects. They are often overwhelmed with the amount of complex hoops they must jump through to get a small project off the ground.

Community employment, CE, schemes offer vital support to local communities. This should be an area of most concern to the current Government. Insurance and ever-increasing heating and lighting costs have put a tremendous strain on community centres, community services, community enterprises and, in the main, community managers, some of whom after 20 to 25 years service are not entitled to a pension. The cost of the recent increase in the minimum wage was also passed on to community centres, which resulted in reduced hours for CE employees, or worse still, some being let go, which is the direct opposite of the purpose of the scheme in the first instance.

It will come as no surprise that I am also raising the impact of Covid-19 on rural Ireland. This pandemic has changed the way many people work on this island. People had to adapt quickly to create home offices and new routines of childcare, among many other balancing acts. However, the experience of working from home is more difficult for many people in rural Ireland, in particular in Wexford, due to inadequate broadband provision. I was concerned to read in a reply to a parliamentary question to my colleague, Deputy Ó Murchú, that of the 68 public broadband points connected none is in Wexford. I know there are some connection points planned for the county but can we expect any of them to be operational before the end of 2020? I note the Minister's recent announcement of remote working hubs for rural areas. This is, of course, a welcome idea but there are many areas in Wexford that will not be served by these hubs and where people cannot get basic broadband services into their homes. This needs to be dealt with as a matter of priority.

I have no doubt that other Deputies will agree with me that the major issue is the daunting threat of Brexit. Last week, I spoke in this Chamber on the issue of Brexit and in particular Rosslare Port. It is a very important issue that I fear is being overlooked. In preparation for Brexit and a subsequent increase in customs control, staff and traffic at ports, a traffic management plan has been devised for Dublin Port and its surrounding areas but as far as I am aware a similar plan has not been made for Rosslare Port and the surrounding areas.

I know this issue is not within the realm of the Minister's Department per se, but it is an example of rural Ireland being overlooked and I urge her to follow up on the issue with her Government colleagues to get it addressed. It cannot be accepted that the community of Rosslare is subject to massive traffic disruption because it was not given the same thought and planning as urban Dublin.

Finally, it is part of the remit of the Minister to support sustainable communities across Ireland and to protect rural communities from climate change. One area that is certainly not sustainable is the continued flooding in my town of Enniscorthy. The people of Enniscorthy have endured extreme hardship. Floods have occurred there in 1924, 1947, 1965, 2000, 2015 and in June of this year. The flooding is further crippling businesses and homeowners already under severe pressure from the prospect of another bad winter. There have been long-promised flood defence schemes but, unfortunately, there has been delay after delay. A scheme is currently awaiting sign-off by the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath. I urge the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to follow up on that with him as a matter of extreme urgency.

The life experiences of communities in rural areas such as my county of Wexford must be listened to by the Government as the experience of living and working in these areas is often very different from that in urban cities and towns. Smaller towns and villages offer so much by way of growing businesses, exceptional tourism and hospitality opportunities and contributions to the community through sports and the arts sector. We must continue to support them. We must address the inequalities they face compared with bigger cities and ensure they can continue to contribute to our economic and social lives and the culture of the nation.

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