Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

We are delighted to be able to bring this motion to the floor of the Dáil because it is such an important motion. In many ways, rural Ireland has become a box-ticking exercise in the Dáil over the years. We have a situation with regard to rural and regional Ireland in that they are becoming increasingly peripheral to the development of this country. Ireland is developing into a city state. Dublin, in its size in proportion to the rest of the country, is an outlier in European terms. Even in Britain, London is considered to be too big for the British economy and yet London is only a small percentage of the size of Dublin in relative terms.

It is estimated that about 45% of infrastructural investment which happens now happens in the greater Dublin area. That is not trying to reduce Dublin in any way. Dublin is suffering as a result of this really poor spatial development and a lack of access to housing, schools and with regard to transportation and seized-up transportation routes. Logically, we need to make sure we have balanced delivery of development and spatial development in the country. That has to be underpinned by the State in the provision of services.

One of the big issues which has reduced the health and well-being of small- to medium-sized towns throughout the country is the lack of services. The post office network has been one of those anchor services in that, when it delivers properly within the community, it invites people from a large hinterland into that town or village and makes sure that town or village is vibrant. I see it in my own constituency where we see that, in recent times, where the Government has closed post offices, the hairdresser or shop next door to the post office closes quite shortly afterwards as people start to head into the bigger hubs and towns.

Reducing the ability of post offices to function and closing them is a direct attack on regional and rural Ireland. It accelerates the process happening, whereby people are moving into bigger towns and cities all the time. If you look at the average age in Balbriggan, it is ten years younger than the average age in Killarney. What is happening there is younger people no longer have a viable life in some rural and regional areas and feel they have to go to larger cities to get a job. Of course, they cannot afford to buy a house in those larger cities and so they live in a growing commuter belt and experience a commuter hell which many people currently experience.

We have a lopsided development in this country with an overheating Dublin and a massive commuter belt which is now spreading into different provinces. People are living in a different province from the place where they work, which is an incredible situation. At the heart of that is this Government's lack of commitment to the development of small towns and villages throughout the country. Covid-19 has provided an opportunity or silver lining with regard to these small towns and villages. To do that, however, the Government needs to make sure the post offices become a hub of services for those small towns and villages, where people can get insurance, do their banking or get a driving licence and can get in the post office all of the different elements on which they would normally engage with the State.

I ask the Minister of State to listen to the motion proposed by the Regional Group and take it on board.

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