Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's speech. I am reminded of Patrick Kavanagh when he said:

Parochialism and provincialism are direct opposites. A provincial is always trying to live by other people's loves, but a parochial is self-sufficient.

There is something in the Minister's theme today when she speaks about the parish coming together, identifying projects and then relying on the State, the Government and the Department to animate those projects and bring them to fruition. I am glad to hear that the Minister has been getting out of her Department and travelling the country to see the good works that are taking place. That is to her credit.

In latter years one senses that there is a positivity in parishes throughout the land where they are identifying projects and the funding is flowing. That has to be acknowledged. If we are talking about Our Rural Future and the rural economy, the bread and butter issues are still the ones that effect people in their day to day lives. I look at simple things like access to GP and out-of-hours services. In many of the communities I represent we have the characteristic provincial or market town surrounded by a rural hinterland, where before there was a strong rural agricultural community feeding into a creamery-like structure. What I am coming across is the lack of inward investment in an industrial policy that seeks to renew some of those industries that sustained communities, like in the town of Mallow.

I will be accused of being parochial here but I do not care because it is the town from which I hail. I will speak about the loss of Irish Sugar, for instance, which was once a stalwart and part of the backbone of Irish industrial policy, whereupon it was sold to Greencore and privatised. We lost the sugar industry and now the Greencore site in Mallow is up for sale. I am calling on the State to retake or purchase that site and bring it back into State ownership to try to animate some sort of industrial policy that will serve towns like Mallow and its rural hinterland to create jobs that will bolt on to that policy that is part of that rural future the Minister talks about. I see no reason, at a time when there is much deliberation about energy policy, you could not use a site like the Greencore site at Mallow as a key reference point for alternative energy creation, for instance.

If I am talking about industrial policy, we need to ensure that people are working and enjoying these new projects, which in the main are public realm projects which sustain a relatively small number of jobs but provide untold benefit to our communities in their usage. We want people to live in rural Ireland but there is an impediment if people who have lived there intergenerationally or who are new there feel there is a lack of access to the services which are more readily available in larger towns. These include GP services and out-of-hours services and this acts as a blockage to that inward investment. We should not ignore the fact that at this point in time, no matter where you go in Ireland, there is a serious impediment to being able to access out-of-hours services for GPs. That is a major impediment to services in hospitals like Cork University Hospital. More and more people, when they get sick, are inclined to go to an accident and emergency department in the likes of Cork University Hospital because they cannot get access to the out-of-hours services. You cannot blame GPs or GP practices for this. The shortage of GPs in rural areas is having untold consequences and it is delaying the ability of people to get access to the services, which is something the Government needs to grapple with. It is not necessarily a matter for this Department but it is an issue we have to address if we are going to be realistic about ensuring that people have that enhanced quality of life, particularly in the towns and villages I represent in north and east Cork.

I acknowledge the role of the Minister in the building acquisition measure and I spoke with her about this last night. This is the proactive policy by Government in tackling dereliction in our towns and villages throughout the country. It has to be acknowledged that there has been some measure of success in the building acquisition measure and new money has been announced for that purpose. That has to be acknowledged and the Government is serious about this issue.

As we approach the next round of budgetary deliberations, where line Departments are interfacing with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, given that there is a demand for this scheme, if that could be enhanced further and if new moneys could be found for it, that would have a massive impact on towns and villages throughout the country. I note that my home town of Mallow has gaps in it, and it is the same in every single town throughout the country. There is one notable example in the town of Mallow called the Central Hotel. It has been derelict for a good number of years and it is under private ownership. If the person or persons who own that facility were willing to engage with the local authority and deploy the building acquisition measure to purchase a property like that, it would have a massive and positive impact on the town of Mallow.

4 o’clock

I speak for many towns and villages when I give that example to the House. I reiterate that the building acquisition measure, which I think has a budget of about €13 million so far, has been very successful and well subscribed. We could do more on schemes like that.

I also acknowledge that the local link transport services in my area have been phenomenally successful. I meet people who use those services at Mallow railway station on a Tuesday where the local link bus comes in. So many students use the service from outlying areas and older people also use it especially because it allows them to come into towns like Mallow, Fermoy and Mitchelstown. It has really benefitted people. There is a practical reason why people get the bus but now there is also a social reason. It gets people out of the house and helps people to interact and do the normal things that people want to do.

I will make one reference to footpaths. It is a hardy perennial for all of us and a bread-and-butter issue. I acknowledge there is an active travel measure now but if the fund is under utilised then there is no reason why local authorities could not use the fund to enhance further the public realm and footpaths in towns and villages throughout the country. Where funds are not spent in a given year, they should be redeployed. I understand it is an active-travel measure but if you are walking down the main street of your town and want to get from A to B, then you are actively walking and the public realm in towns and villages is important. I spoke to an area engineer in my area recently who told me he only had enough money left in his budget to do 60 m of footpaths. They are bread-and-butter issues but they are the issues that people talk about. If we can get the basics right on issues like that then we would be doing a good day’s work.

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