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

I thank the Minister for her statement. I listened to her and her colleagues. One thing that I certainly would not agree with is the idea put forward by the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to the effect that nobody is talking about the death of rural Ireland anymore. I certainly would not go as far as to say that. A prime example of in this regard is the Macra protest whereby young people walked 79 km from Athy to Dublin just a few weeks ago. They did not do that for the good of their health. They did it to raise awareness of the very serious challenges that are facing those of us, our generation and the generation behind us, who want to live in rural communities and who would live nowhere else. This is also to do with the fact that, in some instances, that is very much under threat. That is the reality.

There are many positives. I welcomed Our Rural Future. There are many things in it that are making a difference every day. I welcome all of that, but there are challenges that fall outside the Minister’s remit. CLÁR, the rural support scheme, RSS, and many other schemes and grants are extremely important, but the challenges beyond those that are faced by people who live in rural communities day in and day out relate to housing, access to public services, transport and broadband. There is so much more than just those. That is why there is a need for a cross-party, cross-departmental approach in respect of this matter. I would like to see a cross-party approach being taken a great deal more because there is not a single person in this House who does not want to see rural Ireland thrive, develop and be sustained. That is what we all want to see.

There are issues, however. The planning guidelines are years overdue. We have been waiting a long time for them. They are badly needed if we want to support people to live in the first instance in a rural community. Then, after that, it is about building the resources and the services to ensure that we can sustain those communities. This involves access to public services, banks and financial services, health services and everything that is necessary in the context of building and sustaining communities. A number challenges exist in the context of Our Rural Future. One such challenge relates to identifying State-owned properties in rural towns and villages that could potentially be used for community purposes. That is a very important measure. I would love to know how many of those properties have been identified and the number in respect of which there has been progress. That is the kind of matter in respect of which we need to see progress, particularly as so many of our rural towns have not recovered since the 2008 crash and remain under significant pressure.

How many town centre first officers have been recruited across our local authorities. It is a mark of failure that we still do not have a rural-proofing mechanism in place two years-plus after the emergence of Our Rural Future. That is something on which work has been in train for some time.

We really need to see progress on that because there is particular frustration - I say this as someone from the west of Ireland - that people in Dublin who do not understand the communities and where they are at as regards investment and infrastructure are making decisions for people west of the Shannon. The rural proofing mechanism is important and we are still waiting for it.

Likewise, with respect to Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, there are some other good initiatives such as looking for additional services for the post office network. Especially now, as banks are pulling out of communities, I would like to see progress on that. Our post offices can do more and they and credit unions are willing and able to do more. I know the Minister has an interest in credit unions. It would be great to see progress on access to more financial services in our rural communities.

I have raised this last issue with the Minister numerous times. If someone is questioning where we are with respect to the challenges in rural Ireland, the Minister does not need to listen to my party or anyone on the outside. The European Commission has twice downgraded the west and north west. Alarm bells should be ringing. We are in serious trouble west of the Shannon when it comes to decades of under-investment and lack of investment in infrastructure that is needed to get us to where we need to be. We are now the only region in Ireland that is no longer seen as developed. That is a crisis beyond words.

The western rail corridor is a prime example of infrastructure that should be progressed by the Government to link Sligo to Limerick. It is an investment that would have huge benefits. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has said time and again that he is waiting for the All Island Strategic Rail Review. We have heard that many times. We did not have to wait for the rail review to put more than €20 billion into infrastructure and transport in Dublin. Why do we have to wait in the west of Ireland? We should not have to wait. That is why people get extremely frustrated and annoyed. They see the discrimination that exists. We have a city that is going in one direction and rural communities in the west of Ireland going in the altogether wrong direction. We need to see investment in infrastructure and to build back up so we have balanced regional development once and for all. That is critical.

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