Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to support and add my voice to the Bill. Sinn Féin tabled a similar Bill in the previous Dáil but it was voted down by the two main parties - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. As my colleague, Deputy Kerrane, stated, this is an opportunity to recognise that rural Ireland is developing and changing. That is not happening because of Government policy. Rather, it is happening in spite of it. We need a co-ordinated approach to ensure we get a level of investment in place across rural Ireland such that it can be made sustainable for people to live and prosper there. In the context of every aspect of Government policy, the agents of Government and the measures they put in place, we need a measure of the impact they will have on rural Ireland and those living in rural areas.

School buses are a prime example in this regard. Children who live in rural Ireland cannot get the same access to transport to go to school, which is the most basic need and right they have as citizens. I recently dealt with a situation involving people who were looking for health services in rural Ireland. A woman who had moved to Dublin six months beforehand told me how her son had looked for child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. She said that if her child had got sick while she was living in County Leitrim, she would not have been able to get services for him.

That is one of the issues we have across all parts of rural Ireland. We do not have the services in place to the same level. It is a mishmash of services and investment. Investment is key to keeping our regions going and to getting people back living in rural Ireland. I implore the Government to support this Bill and the principle of ensuring that everything is measured and rural Ireland gets a fair crack of the whip.

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