Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be in the Chamber this afternoon to speak about rural Ireland. As a farm boy, it is a topic that is close to my heart. From the outset, I should say I never really bought into the urban-rural divide, and I know the Minister of State is a Dublin Deputy. I know it exists but it should not. I never felt there was an "us" and "them". If rural Ireland thrives, it is in Dublin’s interest. It will cut down congestion, difficulty with housing and the pressures on services. I compare Ireland with other islands around the world, for example, New Zealand. Auckland is in the northern tip but Wellington and Christchurch in the south are also quite large cities. They seem to have got the balance right in other countries. I am not sure who said that Ireland sometimes feels as if it is going to tip into the Irish Sea, because it is so imbalanced towards the east coast. We certainly have a great deal of work to do from that perspective.

The second point I wish to raise relates to remote working. I take the points the Minister made earlier. I totally agree with the remote working policy. There are now tens of thousands of what I describe as "invisible jobs" all over rural Ireland. It proves the point that the premises was never really where the productivity came from. Productivity comes from people not from premises. Now people work at their kitchen tables, in remote hubs and in small businesses throughout the country. That is a good thing. It certainly opened up much of rural Ireland.

It is not just about the jobs, as the Minister pointed out. It is about all the spin-offs and the benefits from a community perspective. People are not commuting as much so it cuts down the cost of commuting and the emissions associated with it. It keeps people in their towns where they are having coffees, lunches and are around to support their families and their communities. That is great progress.

I support the roll-out of community hubs. That is also a good thing. However, I have one concern. Whenever I visit these hubs, they are not working to full capacity. There is spare capacity, which I am sure the Minister has seen. They are available now but I am not sure they are as accessible as they could be or should be. The costs vary but €10 a day per hot desk could probably be looked at with a view to reducing it to make it more accessible so people would not have to book in. It is great to have the network but in my experience it is not yet working to full capacity. We can work on that.

I acknowledge the progress that has happened. The Minister outlined many funding schemes that are available, which are excellent. Town and village renewal, the LEADER programme and the community centre schemes are all good bar one major issue. There is just not enough of them. We have enough schemes but not enough funding for them. A gentleman named Maoiliosa O’Culachain works on our team in Portarlington. He has a brilliant phrase. He says that "people with money have no ideas, and people with the ideas have no money". The key is to match those groups of people. I agree with the schemes. As the Minister is probably aware, there are dozens if not hundreds of viable projects throughout the country that are crying out for funding. They are legally sound, they make perfect sense and they are financially viable but they were not picked up by these schemes because there is not enough funding available. We have a good deal of surplus coming up in the budget in October. I am not advocating for a splurge in any way, shape or form but the Government could spend half and save half.

If the Minister is going to spend money, she will get massive bang for her buck in rural Ireland. Every euro that is given to rural Ireland is spent ten or 11 times. The funding makes perfect sense from that point of view.

As my good colleague pointed out, the Achilles heel of rural Ireland is housing. It is a major issue. Even though there is a housing crisis, it is almost impossible to get planning permission. Most people who come to my constituency office are young couples who are very environmentally aware. The last thing they want to do is cause any kind of harm to the environment. A big issue is that is it very difficult to get even a preplanning meeting with the local planning authority. In almost every circumstance, if someone is seeking a preplanning meeting, it should be facilitated. We often speak about communication issues. It is difficult to put in a very rigidly formatted planning application and to have it declined. Preplanning meetings would be a good way to go. The Minister of State is a member of the Green Party, which has a particular philosophy regarding one-off housing. Local authorities purchase and suballocate sites for industrial and commercial use, including for business parks. Has any thought been given to purchasing large sites for residential use and making those sites available to young couples and families who want build their own homes on serviced sites? That is a possibility that could be examined.

I support the Croí Cónaithe scheme. People are out the door of constituency offices inquiring about applications. A grant of €50,000 to €70,000 is a good amount and is making a difference. It is addressing the housing issue to an extent and also addressing the dereliction issue, which is hugely important.

From a costal Ireland point of view, I agree in principle with the offshore wind programme. However, it needs to be expedited. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, said the first turbine would be in place in 2026 or thereabouts. I urge him to expedite the programme as best as possible. It is very important for rural Ireland, specifically the coastal areas that have suffered massively from a fishing perspective. Europe and the world need Ireland to lead on wind generation. Any time an international delegation comes to the House, its members always inquire about what the hold-up or blockage is and why Ireland is taking so long to harness this renewable resource. Some people would say Ireland is like the Kuwait of north-western Europe when it comes to wind energy and that finding the wind is like finding oil. In fact, it is far more important than that. The wind will always be there and we should try to expedite the process of harnessing it as best we can.

I am very hopeful for rural Ireland. We have three areas in particular to work on. The first relates to planning regulations. In a housing crisis, we should be promoting and encouraging people to build houses rather than preventing them from doing so. The second issue is the need to work on public transport provision. Third, we need to exploit offshore wind for the benefit of coastal communities.

See this speech in context