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

I welcome that. We need to see progress on all of this. There are many areas where we can see problems with rural areas being left behind and not getting the kind of investment they require. The glaring example, for those of us who live in the west of Ireland, is certainly the western rail corridor. For years, we have been told it is going to be developed and yet, they continually look at population areas quite close to the rail line and not a broader area.

I live quite near Dromad in County Leitrim. There is a railway station there, and people travel 30 km or 40 km to go to that railway station. Yet, when they look at the catchment area for a rail line, they only look at 5 km or 10 km from it. It is ridiculous. It should be recognised that it covers a much wider area and is one of the key pieces of infrastructure that would develop the west of Ireland, if it was put in place.

Of course, one of the biggest problems we have with rural proofing is the Planning and Development Bill, which went through here last night and was guillotined. The Government pushed that through and there is nothing in it to do anything for rural areas. To be of some small assistance to the Minister of State when it comes down to the micro, the CSO figures, when they look at each area, look at parishes. Any parish where there is less than 30 people per square kilometre is in terminal decline. There are hundreds of those parishes across the length and breadth of Ireland that require investment. They need to get some leg-up or their schools are going to close and their communities are going to vanish.

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