Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputies Troy, Cassells, Moynihan and, possibly, Browne.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is that agreed? Agreed. There is a total of 17 minutes.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was in the middle of things with the Minister of State on the Bill and what is happening. I was proposing to the Minister of State that if we are to be serious about the development of the west, the Government should set up this new Department there. We have waited for years for something to happen. The Minister of State knows the people have lost patience. Something needs to happen very quickly and we need action straight away.

Banking services are one issue. In Ballygar, Dunmore, Strokestown, Elphin and many other towns, Bank of Ireland is withdrawing services. It is withdrawing counter services, which is a huge issue for Government. The taxpayer bailed out the bank, the State holds 14% of its shares, but it is, frankly, uninterested in rural communities. A number of business people in those towns have met me and told me, as the Minister of State knows well, that once a bank is taken out, the heart and soul of the town is gone. That is what the people of Glenamaddy in County Galway tell me and will tell the Minister of State. The Bank of Ireland is not going to pull back on this no matter how hard we fight it. The question, therefore, is what the Government will do about community banking. We need action here. We need this to move forward. We need to provide a banking service for the people in many of these towns.

The lack of investment in the N4 and N5 projects for many years is deeply concerning. Last year a number of very successful businesses in County Mayo met us in the Minister of State's town of Westport and had one clear message about the state of the national primary route, the N5. They said their bosses in America and elsewhere were saying they could not continue to do business in Ireland unless the road network improved, in particular in the west. The Minister of State must admit that when Fianna Fáil was in power, a great deal of money was invested in roads and many improvements were made. That stopped. The excuse of the recession could be used for a few years, but there is now more money available. We must see a plan in place for both the N4 and the N5.

I turn to the issue of jobs. We talk about balanced regional development, which was a major point in the programme for Government, but it is simply not happening. When I go to Ballaghaderreen, Boyle and Roscommon town, I see no jobs being created by the Government. There have been no visits to the county by the IDA. No debate is going on to bring jobs to these regions. Broadband was the subject of many promises. Several deadlines have already been missed. I will not go into that because I want to give my colleagues time. Companies are crying out for better broadband. A few months ago in my town, a firm the Minister of State knows well had to be bring its business to the town of Mullingar to email material to Sweden. That is how bad it is. We must deal with situations like that.

In the previous Government, a number of Ministers did not like the idea of decentralisation to any other part of Ireland. While there were difficulties in some parts of the country, decentralisation was generally a success. It needs to be back on the agenda.

The revaluation of property is a massive problem. The Minister knows it. In many towns throughout the country, the revaluation of property is in some cases reducing the rates debt on a business but in many other cases it will put them out on the road.

There is a huge number of issues. Take towns such as Ballinasloe. Galway city is bursting at the seams while Ballinasloe is barely holding on. There is no development there. Nothing is going on. Why are we not suggesting or proposing to bring some businesses or Government services to towns such as Ballinasloe?

I will now pass to my colleagues, Deputies Cassells, Aindrias Moynihan and Troy, as I do not want to take all of the time.

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have not done it yet, so first I congratulate the Minister on his appointment and wish him the very best in his role. In his statement earlier today, the Minister said the Bill had just one purpose, which is to establish the Department and to confer a name. However, it is so much more in terms of its resonance in every single aspect of rural life, for which the Minister has a huge grá and appreciation. I want to explore that here today.

There was a huge amount of debate earlier today on rural Ireland. People spoke about attacks on rural Ireland and what needs to be done to save rural Ireland. Listening to some of the contributions earlier this morning, there was a variance of views on how to accomplish what everyone was supposed to be talking about. There was even a suggestion that we could save rural Ireland by building a stadium in the west of Ireland, as if one physical edifice would save it and that this would be all encompassing. It missed the point totally.

I contributed to the Oireachtas committee on rural affairs when it came to Athboy where I have my constituency office. We spoke about what was needed in terms of a strategic approach. The national strategic planning framework is extremely important because of the focus on planning. People think that my home county of Meath is a big and populated county where everything is going well and everything is great but we are living in a two-tier county. All the development is happening in the south of the county on the Dublin border but the recent census figures show that there has been depopulation in the north of the county. In the town of Oldcastle, one of the thriving market towns of the past 50 years, the most recent census figures show there was depopulation. Everything that the Deputies in the Chamber are speaking about in terms of why services then go, whether they be banks or other commercial services, is determined by where the population centres are located. My point is that if the planners, who nearly act like mini-gods, are given the opportunity andcarte blanche to centre our populations in certain regions, it will put in train a scenario for years and decades to come in which these towns die because they are not being repopulated. That is why I am adamant that if we do not get this particular national planning document right in terms of giving counties a chance to survive - and I mean the entire county and not just the greater Dublin area, which is where the focus seems to be - it will kill them in the years to come. We have to give those counties an opportunity.

In terms of co-ordination of services, I recently met communities in Ballinabrackey and Castlejordan in the south of County Meath. Those towns are right down on the border with County Offaly. They could not be more isolated from my home town of Navan and it takes nearly an hour to get to them. Their nearest Garda station is in Trim, which is 40 minutes away, yet one could cycle a bike to Rhode just across the county border. They feel isolated in terms of the co-ordination of all State services, be they Garda, hospital or fire services.

Another aspect is child care. It is a hot topic in this Chamber but it has an impact in respect of the Minister's Department as well in the context of supporting the existing facilities in our counties. No disrespect to the services that are operating in the west - the best of luck to them - but when I consider counties such as County Leitrim, which is very well subsidised when it comes to the provision of child care services, and then consider my county, which has a population of 190,000, the capitation figures bear no resemblance in terms of the pressures that they are under. We need to consider all these things in the whole and not just consider what are viewed as traditional rural counties. As I said, we are now developing a two-tier county in my native county of Meath, where the provision of services in the north of the county is more aligned to that in Cavan. Then we consider the south of the county, which is coming within the greater Dublin area. It is not a healthy situation and we should not allow it to be fuelled or developed. It is striking that there can be depopulation in what is supposedly one of the commuter counties. The only thing that will address it is to make sure these counties are given a fair crack in this planning document.

If the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government is allowed a free rein on this and unless the Minister's Department and other Departments place a heavy hand on it and say we want an Ireland that exists outside of the greater Dublin region or we will overheat it, we will kill all the services in the other areas. The decisions that will be taken on this critical document could be the ones that kill communities and commercial services for years to come. I appeal to the Minister not to let the Custom House have a free hand on this. The county development plans have now become subservient to the regional plans and the regional plans will be subservient to this. If the Custom House is allowed to run this through roughshod, it will kill the rural Ireland we all know and love and towns such as Oldcastle in County Meath will not have a chance because of these decisions.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister. In the interests of rural communities, we need his Department to be successful and to be able to take on the many challenges that rural communities are facing including issues such as the rural road network, which is crumbling in many places. Will the Department be responsible for rural broadband, for example? We need to see the national broadband programme advanced. Rural communities are faced with declining services right across the board. These include basic services such as access to general practitioners, while post offices, shops and petrol stations are being closed and schools are under pressure for teachers. Will the new Department have ownership of or be in a position to deal with these issues?

Will the Department take responsibility for rural enterprise and, for example, the Leader programme? Many farmers such as beef and sheep farmers are struggling to make a living without direct payments. Populations in rural areas are declining. GAA clubs are struggling to put together teams and are being forced to amalgamate. It is clear that there are many pressures on rural communities. Will the Department have the responsibilities and the resources to take on these challenges?

The last Government did away with the Department, which was fitting given its anti-rural Ireland bias. It is good that there has been a reawakening or a Damascene conversion. I hope that this is not just a token gesture and that there is substance behind it. We have seen our fourth rural Ireland plan in 33 months and we need delivery on it in the interests of those communities. We need the Department to take a leadership role and to implement the necessary actions. Will these different responsibilities be transferred from the other Departments to that of the Minister or will they remain part of the current Departments with the Minister running between them trying to put a rural Ireland blas on each of the actions?

Maidir le cúrsaí Gaolainne agus Gaeltachta, tá na Gaeltachtaí éagsúla amuigh faoin tuath agus táid ag brath go láidir ar cheantair tuaithe a bheith beo agus bríomhar. Tá ceangal dlúth eatarthu agus táid ag cur go mór lena chéile. Maidir le hábhair ar nós fostaíocht, Údarás na Gaeltachta, pleanáil teanga, pleanáil pobail agus go leor eile, an bhfuil sé i gceist gnóthaí Gaeltachta a bheith mar chuid den Roinn seo?

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I offer my congratulations to the Minister on his promotion and wish him the best of luck with the job. It is a positive development that there is a re-establishment of this Department. It was a regressive and a wrong step by the previous Government to do away with a Department with responsibility for rural and community affairs. Will the Department be adequately funded? What will its budget be for the year? Is it a simple matter of the Taoiseach having gone around to the various Departments, taking a bit from here, there and everywhere and putting it into the Minister's Department? Will the Minister have real powers? Will he be adequately funded? Will he have control over broadband and mobile phone coverage? If one drives around any parts of County Westmeath nowadays, the mobile phone coverage is worse than it was ten years ago.

We talk about the need to have broadband in rural communities, but in some of those communities, such as Loughnavalley and Ballynacargy, there are blackspots where telephone coverage drops every day. The Minister must examine that.

The post offices are another issue. We are told the Minister walked away from having responsibility for the post office network because he did not see a future for it and did not want to be the bearer of bad news. As a result of various Ministers shirking their responsibilities for the post office network over the past 12 months, we are now 12 months further on from putting in place a sustainable plan for the majority of our post offices. The Irish Postmasters Union admits that, unfortunately, some post offices will close. Bobby Kerr has also confirmed that. However, a substantial sum of money must be invested to ensure others do not. I urge the Minister to use his position to ensure the Kerr report is implemented in order that we have a sustainable network into the future.

Commercial rates were mentioned earlier by other speakers. They are not under the Minister's direct control. However, we are discussing a sustainable rural community. The Government launched the plan for revitalising rural Ireland in Ballymahon a number of months ago. In that same week the revaluation of commercial rates was notified to the businesses of Longford and Westmeath. People in Granard, Ballymahon, Moate, Mullingar, Ballynacargy, Castlepollard, Kilbeggan and elsewhere were notified of increases of up to 400%. That is unsustainable and unreflective of the business they are doing in their respective businesses. A pause button must be pressed. We must state this will not take place and a new way of calculating rates will be introduced next year because people are worried they will be unable to pay their commercial rates.

I will conclude with a question. How will money be allocated? I thank the Minister for supporting the provision of a playground in my old school in Ballynacargy recently. It was fortunate to get it. Another project in Westmeath was supported too. I am told Westmeath got 20% of the funding that Mayo received. The Minister is a good man for delivering funding to Mayo. I say "well done", as the Minister is a constituency representative like the rest of us. However, there is more than County Mayo in rural Ireland. It also includes Longford, Westmeath, Roscommon and Meath. Other Deputies have spoken about their respective constituencies. We want to see fair play. The Minister should not abuse his position for the betterment of his county. Of course he wishes to invest in his county, but he should not do it to the detriment of every other county. He should live up to the commitment given by the Independent Alliance to restore the local improvement schemes. Two budgets have been produced but the local improvement schemes have not been restored. The Minister must ensure they are restored in the forthcoming budget, because they are critical for rural Ireland.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

First, I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Ring, and I look forward to working with him as part of the partnership Government. Being a west of Ireland man, I am delighted he has taken on this role.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Everyone knows we must revitalise rural Ireland. As the economy begins to recover, we must ensure the benefits of that recovery are experienced by all our citizens, including people in rural Ireland. We must ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach in delivering this. As stated in the programme for Government, we must ensure balanced national development is achieved. The means to achieve this is by creating sufficient scale in the west through the Atlantic economic corridor. We must develop the necessary infrastructure to attract jobs and to create an environment whereby we can keep people living and working in their local towns and villages and on their family farms. There must be a co-ordinated approach. We must have what I describe as infrastructure-led development. We must have proper road infrastructure, broadband, rail networks, airports, water, sewerage and rural transport. They are all key components in the development of balanced growth.

To achieve all this for rural Ireland, we must ensure rural Ireland remains at the top of the agenda. In establishing a dedicated Department, we are not just paying lip service to this but beginning to keep rural Ireland at the top of the agenda. We will now have a Minister who will have a dedicated team - a captain and a team - to lead rural Ireland to full recovery. I live in Galway East in rural Ireland. People are delighted to be living there and are very proud of their roots, but we wish to ensure more people can live there and that people who are suffering in overcrowded Dublin, as has been mentioned by other Deputies, are given an opportunity to live and work in rural Ireland as well as join our football and GAA clubs. That will ensure rural Ireland is a vibrant place in which to live.

Ireland is the talk of the world in terms of our green grass and scenery, but we must also ensure it is a place in which people can live in comfort. I look forward to the establishment of this Department. Since his appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ring has brought a great deal of infrastructure and investment to rural Ireland. He has done some of the job. As an Independent Alliance Member, I am proud to be here and to be part of a Government that is bringing rural Ireland to the top of the agenda. I wish the Minister, Deputy Ring, the best of luck and I look forward to working with him. I realise there will be difficulties in trying to achieve everything we want to achieve, but working together as a team we will try to achieve it all.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil supports the main principles of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2017 which establishes the new Department of Rural and Community Development. However, we believe there would be better policy coherence by having rural and Gaeltacht development policy centred in one Department. Therefore, we have tabled Committee Stage amendments to provide for adding the Gaeltacht portfolio to the new Department.

Fianna Fáil established the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs with the senior Minister having responsibility for rural affairs, the Gaeltacht and the islands. However, the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government abolished the Department in 2011 and, only after pressure, assigned rural affairs to a Minister of State. The new Taoiseach has decided to break up the rural Department set up in 2016 by splitting rural development from the Gaeltacht and the islands and putting the portfolios into two Departments. This is very poor judgment and illustrates the knowledge deficit of the new Taoiseach on rural Ireland. Once more, it shows that Fine Gael does not understand the policy challenges facing rural parishes countrywide and continues to give preference to development in fewer locations.

Representing the constituency of Waterford, I deal with rural and urban issues. The difference between both are immense, given the difficulties with broadband, services, roads and isolation. Rural Ireland has suffered profoundly. Investment and job creation opportunities have been disproportionately focused on large urban areas. The result has been the erosion of community life in rural areas as people are forced to relocate to support their families. This in turn has put enormous pressure on housing in areas such as Dublin, Cork, Waterford and other areas of dense population.

Fianna Fáil has long recognised the need to revitalise rural Ireland. This formed a key part of our general election manifesto and we focused on it during the talks to facilitate a minority Government. The confidence and supply arrangement contains a clear commitment to develop new community development schemes for rural areas. It is important this is acted on without delay. The Government must make it attractive for people to live in small towns and villages. I come from a small town with a population of approximately 2,000 people. There must be investment in general practitioner services, rural schools, broadband and other key services. In addition, the IDA must increase its efforts to attract jobs to rural areas, as this is the only way we can revitalise our towns and villages in the long run.

Fianna Fáil is committed to building an Ireland for all, where the fruits of recovery are felt throughout the country and with more regional balance.

In the confidence and supply arrangement to facilitate a minority government, Fianna Fáil extracted policy commitments on rural Ireland to be implemented over the Government's term. We have been successful in having some of these commitments partially implemented, including the re-establishment of the CLÁR programme, expansion of the rural social scheme and reversal of the 2012-13 farm assist cuts. Much more needs to be done, however.

I will address the broadband issue first. It is shocking that more than 500,000 rural households and businesses will have to wait until as late as 2024 for State intervention to deliver moderate speed broadband. The national broadband plan was first launched in 2012 and the litmus test of its success will be what additional new funding will be ring-fenced for it. It was interesting to note on the RTE programme, "Ear to the Ground", how a community in Clashmore came together as a result of the lack of broadband. People in rural areas are sick of waiting for broadband. A west Waterford community that tackled the issue head on believes it has stumbled on a blueprint that other communities could use to get connected. West Waterford Community Broadband started in 2011 from an online conversation between a small number of local techies. It is now a successful, locally run broadband scheme that is solving the connectivity issue for more than 100 families in the Clashmore and Kinsalebeg area of west Waterford and the number is growing.

As a result of the community not having a clear vantage point to cover its scattered settlements, it was not well served by broadband services. However, a committee did the research and its members climbed ladders. Thanks to the arrival of increasingly powerful, cheap and relatively easy-to-use wireless technology, it started to make the connections that linked up the region and is now providing services equivalent in reliability and cost to those available in adjacent towns. The scheme is working well and shows at first hand the versatility of people living in rural areas and community spirit coming to the fore.

Security is also becoming an issue for rural dwellers and the West Waterford Community Broadband scheme has some users with dedicated cameras who issue email alerts when movement is detected by the cameras. Initiated in response to the failure of a commercial provider in the area, the community-orientated service now aims to operate alongside other operators, providing a service to those who are not well served while maintaining choice.

Another issue that rural dwellers are very concerned about is the closure of Garda stations in small towns and villages. People miss the local garda, the comfort of knowing he or she is living in the area and interacting with him or her. The closure of rural Garda stations has had a real impact on rural communities, with many people left isolated by the lack of a visible Garda presence in their towns and villages. Again, communities have fought back by setting up community alert groups, working with the Garda and informing friends and neighbours of suspicious activities. Restoring a strong Garda presence in rural Ireland must be a priority.

Small rural schools need to be protected and nurtured. All too often in small communities, the two or three-teacher school is the focus of the old community. Parents were educated in these schools and want their children to be educated in the same school. Pressure is too often put on families to enrol their children in more modern, larger and shinier schools with newer facilities such as interactive white boards and plenty of other supports. However, in some cases the small village school is the hub of the community and we need to support such schools as much as we support other schools.

The recent strike in Bus Éireann brought into sharp focus the absolute dependency of rural areas on Bus Éireann. People living in Dublin and other cities are spoiled for choice. They need only walk out their front door to find taxis, buses, bicycle lanes, the Luas or the DART. This is not the case in rural Ireland where people are dependent on Bus Éireann to attend hospital appointments, visit family and friends, shop and collect their pension on Thursday or Friday. Fortunately, Local Link, a rural bus service, has stepped in and identified the gaps and routes not covered by Bus Éireann. The quality of the service the organisation provides cannot be underestimated. As a member of the board of Local Link in Waterford, I commend the drivers who operate the service. They collect older people from their homes, often on laneways that are inaccessible to larger buses, and bring them home after a couple of hours. They often carry passengers' shopping into their homes. This is an example of the value of rural Ireland.

Agriculture is the beating heart of rural Ireland. Fianna Fáil is committed to securing a fair price for farmers' products, ensuring the future of the family farm model and introducing a fair and transparent inspection regime.

I congratulate the Minister on his appointment to his new role. While Fine Gael has been great at talking the talk on supporting rural Ireland, the time for meaningful action is long overdue. I hope this new Department, with the Minister at its helm, will start to deliver action and in that regard I wish the Minister the best of luck.

Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on his elevation to the Cabinet table. I am sure his knowledge of the current state of rural affairs will prove invaluable in his new role. Alas, given the deliberations to date and being aware of the contents of the Bill, the Minister's duties, powers and budget are reminiscent of those of a junior Minister. The Taoiseach is not taking seriously the Minister's portfolio. Many more powers need to be assigned to the Department.

As a rural Deputy, I am aware of the deficits that are fast accruing in rural areas. While the upkeep and sustainability of rural Ireland need not be solely dependent on substantial funding provided by central government, rural areas must be given their fair share of funding. The Minister must acknowledge that prior to the abolition of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs by the previous Government, the Department's annual budget had reached €410 million. While I accept that expenditure reductions became necessary in the intervening period, the substantial increase in Exchequer spending in recent years has not been reflected in a pro rataincrease for the Department. This is a reason to seriously doubt the Government's commitment to rural Ireland.

As I stated, deficits are fast accruing in rural areas. One of the main reasons is the unfair competition from larger urban centres. The common denominator is the roll-out of broadband services. If broadband were rolled out to rural areas as quickly as it has been rolled out to cities and major towns, the sustainability of rural areas would improve and rural populations would increase.

Over the years, rural areas have lost post offices and creameries as a result of globalisation. I will not make an issue of the closure of Garda barracks. Rural areas want their community gardaí back because they were not replaced when Garda barracks were closed. Instead, more Garda patrols were provided and while I acknowledge that the availability of patrol cars is great, no one knows the gardaí in them. As the Minister has stated over the years, community gardaí were good because they gathered knowledge, kept people in the community informed and kept people safe.

It is sad that local development companies have been shredded. I served on the board of Ballyhoura Development, a local Leader company, for many years. I saw the great work it did in a rural area where it funded enterprises and village projects. Alas, other villages that are trying to catch up are finding there is no money available for village renewal and similar projects.

I ask the Minister to ensure his remit is broadened to make his role more powerful in order that he will have a say in other Departments which also have a role in rural affairs. The Minister climbed the rungs of the ladder but the cart did not follow the horse. The problem is that the cart has been left behind. While I acknowledge his role and appreciate his elevation, the Minister has not been given the power and remit required to perform his functions to the best of his ability.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I, too, congratulate the Minister on his appointment to the Cabinet. However, when one considers the portfolio the Taoiseach has decided to allocate to him, it is clear he would have more power if he were a Minister of State without portfolio floating around various Departments. Henry Kissinger once asked who he should call when he wanted to call Europe because he did not know. Who do I call when I want to talk about rural broadband? Not the Minister, Deputy Ring. Who do I call when I want to talk about rural post offices?

Not the Minister, Deputy Ring. Who do I call when I want to talk about rural roads? Not the Minister, Deputy Ring. Who do I call when I want to talk about rural Garda stations? Not the Minister, Deputy Ring. Who do I call when I want to talk about most rural issues? Not the Minister, Deputy Ring. That is at the heart of our reservations about what the Taoiseach has decided to do. This is a matter for him and the Government. Presumably, it was not something to which the Minister adhered. The Taoiseach decided it, but that is the problem. As Deputy O'Keeffe stated, the Minister's portfolio is too narrow. He has the smallest budget of all Departments and its work is confined to particular areas. A significant opportunity to tell rural Ireland once and for all that its issues are being addressed properly has been lost because of a misunderstanding of what is required.

This Department is just a hodge-podge of issues. The Department's budget and the number of lines it will have are extremely small. It will have the Leader programme and the Dormant Account Fund. It might have the Western Development Commission. It will have the town and village regeneration scheme, which is pitifully small. The Department will have so little. The Minister is not really the Minister for rural affairs. He is the Minister for a small number of rural programmes. That is the problem - the Minister does not have the necessary clout. As another Deputy called it, he is the Minister for paper clips, or at least rural paper clips. They literally are paper clips in the overall scheme of Government spending. I mean no disrespect to Deputy Ring and we are delighted to see him at the Cabinet table. I am sure that he will raise a voice, but when it comes to rural broadband, the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has responsibility. The same applies to post offices. Famously, Deputy Ring did not want them. All of these issues should be within one Department so that there can be coherence in strategy and someone to deal with those issues that affect rural Ireland and impact on people's lives. Most people in rural Ireland will look at this and point out that they cannot avail of Leader funding, for example. They need rural broadband, they need to use their post offices and they need to ring their local Garda stations but none of the areas that have been allocated to this portfolio apply to them.

Deputy Ó Cuív's Committee Stage amendments will go some way towards addressing that issue, but there must be a broader vision. The type of vision that Fianna Fáil offered in the previous election, in fact. I remember Deputy Ó Cuív enunciating it clearly on television during the little bit that I watched. I believe that it was during a debate in County Mayo or somewhere like that.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Tubbercurry.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In south Sligo near Mayo. I should know it - my wife is from near there. We enunciated that vision of what rural Ireland should be and how Government policy should react to it. After the election, it was the most fashionable item in political jargon. Everyone was running around claiming to be for rural Ireland this and rural Ireland that, but when the time came, a hodge-podge of a Department that did not work was created. Everything was put into it. It is now being split, but it still will not work or address people's concerns and needs. More work needs to be done. The Minister, Deputy Ring, needs to make the case to the Taoiseach to change the set-up radically as regards how rural Ireland is dealt with at Government policy level because what is happening at the moment is not good enough.

I congratulate the Minister personally. It is a significant honour for him and his county to be in the Cabinet. He will do a good job, but he needs a larger role.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I call the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

May I call a quorum? This has been an extraordinary debate, but no back bench Fine Gael Deputies have attended. They should have the courtesy to attend and listen to the Minister of State.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Ring, on his appointment to the Cabinet. We know him as someone who has a great commitment to his community in Mayo, the west coast and all parts of rural Ireland. He is a tremendous worker on the ground and is well respected across party lines for that work and his delivery for constituents in Mayo. He will do a wonderful job in the Cabinet.

I acknowledge the work that the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Humphreys, has done since May 2016. I worked in that Department alongside the new Minister, Deputy Ring. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, worked hard on an array of responsibilities and has been the voice for rural Ireland in the Cabinet for the past year in the role that the new Minister will now play.

Some Deputies discussed the abolition of the previous Department. In 2011 and in light of the need to split the Department of Finance into two Departments and two Ministers, given the workload and the economic crisis that the country faced, and the Government's commitment to establish a new Department of children and youth affairs, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs was subsumed into other Departments. In 2016, I took part in the negotiations with Independent Deputies on the formation of the Government. Some of them are present now. We had long days in Government Buildings discussing a programme for Government. Clearly, rural affairs and issues were to the fore in those talks and in the subsequent commitments in the programme for Government. If the Minister and I are granted responsibility in the new Department, we will seek to implement that programme and ensure that we have the funding necessary to fulfil the commitments that were made as part of those discussions.

Now that just one Minister is serving at the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance, it is right that the opportunity be taken to put on a senior level a full Ministry of rural and community development. That is what this is about, namely, ensuring that the Government puts its efforts into developing rural Ireland.

Cuirim fáilte roimh na rudaí deasa a dúirt an Teachta Ó Cuív ar maidin maidir leis an ról a bhí agam mar Aire Stáit na Gaeltachta. Bhí mé an-sásta nuair a bhí mé ag obair sa rannóg sin laistigh den Roinn Ealaíon, Oidhreachta, Gnóthaí Réigiúnacha, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta. Rinne an Taoiseach cinneadh maidir leis na dualgaisí Gaeltachta. Tá an tAire Stáit, an Teachta McHugh, ag obair sa Roinn sin anois. Tá a fhios agam go ndéanfaidh sé jab maith as seo amach mar Aire Stáit na Gaeltachta.

While I enjoyed my time as Minister of State with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, the Taoiseach made a decision to realign the Department and remove responsibility for rural affairs and establish the Department of culture, heritage and the Gaeltacht. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, will do an excellent job in that Department and I will be working closely with him. The Taoiseach also realigned Government committees; he has reduced the numbers and given them a broader reach. That is reflective of the issue of rural Ireland. While we will have commitments to rural Ireland in this Department, rural issues reach across every Department. Every Department plays a role in regional and rural areas and every Department also plays a role in urban areas. The Taoiseach will be chairing those realigned committees and the Minister, Deputy Ring, will be sitting in on issues of rural affairs which will encompass issues of education and health and issues that come under the remit of other Departments.

The Minister pointed out earlier that all the responsibilities of this Department have not been fully finalised. We know the nature of what we will be getting in this Department but more responsibilities may be transferred over time as things are sorted out. It is important to acknowledge that. It is not practical, as some have suggested when talking about rural Garda stations for example, to have a Minister with responsibility for rural education, rural health, rural justice or rural transport. There can be sections, but there has to be an overarching Ministry for justice, education, health and so on. The role the Minister, Deputy Ring, and I will have will be predominantly in the responsibilities we are given but we will also have an overarching role as a voice in Cabinet to disagree with or fight against proposals that may come from other Departments. We will also work with them to push forward the agenda within the Department. I see the Minister, Deputy Ring, as having a key role as a voice in Cabinet and also within the committee structure to address the important issues that arise in rural areas, which we have all come across, in terms of regional balance. It has been commented on and I agree with a lot of what has been said. I have said this before when we have had debates. A Private Members' Bill introduced by Deputy Kenny a number of months will go to committee and be discussed. There was a lot of commonality that we agreed on in that situation. I am sure the Minister will be participating in the committee discussions on that as they arise.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Bill was not passed.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Sorry?

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Bill was not passed.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No, but it will go to committee.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is not.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is to be discussed. It was recommended that it be discussed at committee. It will be discussed.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We would not like anything incorrect on the record.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Lig den Aire Stáit-----

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Teachta Ó Cuív made me lose my train of thought. All Deputies in rural Ireland have the interest of rural Ireland at heart and none more so than the Minister, Deputy Michael Ring. I appreciate that amendments have been tabled and there will be votes and all of that, but I hate to think there would be any delays in establishing this Department before the summer recess. There is no point talking about not having funds for rural Ireland if we are going to stop a Ministry from being established for rural Ireland so we have the Minister there fighting over the summer for the budget to put in place for the plans we have. There is scope in this Dáil and new politics for suggestions to be made about things that can be done. We are interested in hearing them. We are interested in hearing any coherent arguments on what we can do to improve rural Ireland. There is a lot going on in rural Ireland and much that is positive. It has become fashionable for certain people to talk down rural Ireland and say it is in decline. It is under pressure. Many areas of the country are under pressure. It is under pressure from urbanisation because 50% of the population lives in Leinster. That did not happen overnight. It did not happen in the past five years. It has been happening continually. It happens across the world where there is a change and where people move from rural to urban centres. It is a pressure that many cities and countries face. It is about ensuring we put in place the infrastructure.

I agree with everyone who talks about the importance of broadband and how crucial it is. It is great to see in my townland and many others in my parish of Moycullen that eir is rolling out broadband with a commitment to the Government contract; there will be State fines if it does not roll out broadband to 300,000 houses. It is ongoing and extra customers are being connected to fibre broadband in homes in rural Ireland. There are positive things taking place. As Minister of State, the Minister said we should look at schemes such as local improvement schemes. There have been reductions in roads budgets. It came up during the Government formation talks and even though there have been increases in the last two budgets, road infrastructure for rural Ireland is under pressure and it needs more investment. We will continue to fight for it and it will be one of the things we will be looking at.

I am looking forward to the challenges ahead and working with the Minister, Deputy Ring, and Government colleagues to push forward the case for rural Ireland. I hope the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2017 will be progressed today through the House and through the Seanad tomorrow so we can get the Department established. When we do that, we will see what extra functions, responsibilities and budgets we get to ensure we invest in improving the lives and opportunities of people in rural Ireland.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Ring, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, on their appointments. My experience since I came into the Dáil tells me they will be passionate and fair to people. While many of my comments might suggest I do not think that way, my heart is in rural Ireland and its community.

The new Department of community and rural affairs is a positive move. There is no doubt it is what I fought for as a community representative and as a person who worked my way up from the community to my local council and from my local council to Dáil Éireann. I always spoke about the desperate need for a stand-alone, senior Ministry for community and rural affairs. My problem is the budget and the role of the Minister. I am very worried that the budget will leave the Minister's hands tied. We need to know the Minister's brief exactly. There are huge issues of concern to rural Ireland. I will touch on a number of issues where changes might be made. Hopefully the Minister and Minister of State will have a say on these issues.

I hope the Minister will be the Minister to lead a change from the current position we are in with the Leader programme. The destruction the former Minister, Phil Hogan, caused to the Leader programme and to the community groups that were depending on Leader funding is quite unacceptable. We have been in the new programme since 2014 and the changes we were all concerned about are coming to fruition. There is little or no funding which causes devastation to rural communities. I know plenty of rural communities in west Cork that have lost heavily. We were unlucky enough to lose €2.4 million in our budget in west Cork, undeservedly so because we had projects far in excess of €2.4 million. It cost organisations like the Ballydehob community hall which had new projects ready to roll. Unfortunately, the projects all had to stop, leaving them with their plans in tatters. The West Cork Development Partnership and probably other partnerships spent years developing west Cork and every bit of blackguarding that could have been done was used to get rid of them.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Hear, hear.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Why was that? I will tell the Minister why. It is because they told the truth. They said this new Leader programme would be a shambles and it is nothing short of a shambles. The Minister has an opportunity to turn this around. I do not think he can do so in this Leader programme. The Minister can look at the future because this one is almost in tatters, so much so that we can say it is gone.

When negotiating the programme for Government, a senior Minister told me that if a Leader company were not willing to carry out Government policy, it would be punished and the ones in west County Cork certainly were. It has been very costly to our community down there and we have yet to recover from that. They had built many community projects and we were commended throughout Europe on the roll-out of our programme. Sadly, that has been set to nothing because basically they were swept off. The reason for that is that they stood up to the Government and said that the new Leader programme would be a shambles, and it turned out to be so.

I hope the Minister will be strong enough to bring back the community voluntary forum, which is rarely mentioned here. It was a great organisation from the ground up. This was another casualty at the time of the Phil Hogan Bill to get rid of the bottom-up approach. This is what the community voluntary forum did. In west County Cork, two people were democratically elected from Bantry, Skibbereen, Bandon and Clonakilty, as would have been the case in every other county. They brought forward issues of concern in their communities. Assuming it is in the Minister's brief, I hope he takes the opportunity to overturn this decision. He should bring back more of the ground-up approach.

Does the Minister have the power to overturn the abolition of the town councils? In the Dáil recently, I mentioned Clonakilty which still continues the mayoral town council even though it was shut down as were the ones in Bandon, Skibbereen and Bantry. Such communities should be commended on what they do. We should be looking to put them back on the map again. These were excellent working town councils that were pulled down. I hope the Minister will consider overturning that decision.

However, it is not all bad news in rural Ireland. I do not want to paint that picture because many good things are being done but the community is driving that and is finding it increasingly difficult. If the Minister is serious in his role, he will overturn some of these disastrous decisions that continue to cost communities dearly.

Yesterday proved it is not all bad news. Yesterday, I took time off from the Dáil to go down to the Blue Horizon in Garretstown for the launch of a new bus service. It is the first bus service for the people in Kinsale, Ballinspittle, Kilbrittain, Timoleague, Clonakilty, Butlerstown, Lislevane, Ring, Grange and Courtmacsherry. This was funded by TII and while it might not come under the Minister's brief it is a great rural initiative. All local tourism groups sat down with TII. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, has to be commended on this also. We now have a seven-day service running five times a day in an area never previously serviced by a bus. There was great excitement with 100 people there in the middle of the day to welcome this new service.

This is thanks to the TII and Local Link. I believe Deputy Butler mentioned Local Link and I hope some of this comes under the Minister's brief. An invaluable service is provided by bus drivers and the management of these companies as well as the volunteers on the boards. I am a deputy chairperson and Neilie O'Leary is chairperson. They are volunteers. I never took anything for being on the board of Local Link because I know it delivered for rural communities. I hope the Minister can further enhance that in his role.

In order to measure an improvement in rural Ireland and whether things are turning around, we need to look at the census. Sadly, when I look at the census, I do not see any improvement for rural communities. The population in many parts of rural Ireland is still falling, spelling disaster for local GAA clubs which have to turn to neighbouring communities. At one time they were massive opponents of each other and now they have to join hands to build clubs with sometimes two or three parishes together. That indicates to the Minister the seriousness of the situation and the importance of the Ministry he holds. I know he is passionate, but passion will not do because we need much more than passion to steer us through this. We need more determination and someone to overturn some of the wrong decisions that were made. It can be done.

How can people say there is a recovery? If there is, it is in Dublin at the expense of rural communities. When the Exchequer got squeezed, rural Ireland was the first to suffer. We know well why this happened. We lost our banks. We lost the bank in Schull-Ballydehob. The nearest bank is 30 miles away which is an incredible inconvenience to any community. How do we expect a recovery in a rural community if the vision it taken out of that community? In the past few weeks we have been told that there will no longer be a counter service in Dunmanway, which is another kick in the teeth to rural Ireland.

We lost our Garda stations. I know Stepaside had the luck of a decision being overturned. Maybe we can step aside and look at Goleen, Adrigole and Ballinspittle which had their Garda stations closed. Goleen Garda station, which was the most south westerly in Ireland, is now gone. We are worried about our post offices. Will the Minister, Deputy Ring, be the person we should speak to about our post offices? That is very much a rural issue.

The embargo on local authority workers is a huge issue in rural Ireland and is costing rural communities.

While I know the Minister, Deputy Ring, is not the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, we have seen the way grain farmers have been treated. This week they had a sit-in in Agriculture House. We need a Minister such as the Minister, Deputy Ring, to stand up and fight around the Cabinet table. I hope he can take that on.

Everybody wants to talk about broadband. In one community in Kinsale, 75 houses are without broadband, which is very unfair. I ask the Minister, Deputy, Ring, to step up to the mark on broadband. We are hearing further bad news on it. We do not need to hear bad news; we need to hear positive news. The only way to overturn that is to get the community involved in the roll-out of broadband.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Hear, hear.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We need to forget about all these Departments. If the Minister wants to get something done, he should get the communities involved in the roll-out. It can come under the Leader programme, as is done in other European countries. There are many other issues I could speak about here, including the cuts to the ambulance service that are affecting rural Ireland and the 24-hour accident and emergency department in Bantry hospital, but I have to give Deputy Harty his chance. I am very sorry for cutting into his time.

Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the creation of the new Department of rural and community affairs. Following the negotiations on the programme for Government last year, the Rural Independent Group was very disappointed that we did not get an independent Department to look after rural affairs. I am very happy that with the change of leadership there has been a change of attitude in that regard. The Minister, Deputy Ring, is to be congratulated and he is a very appropriate person to look after such a Ministry. He is embedded in rural Ireland and understands the difficulties, as we all do.

I hope he gets an adequate budget. I know he will have to fight hard to do so. He will also have to fight hard to get proper responsibilities for his Department. I hope other Departments do not land him with all the unpleasant elements they are trying to get rid of. I hope he will be strong enough to resist that and take on proper rural and community development responsibilities.

Some 60% of farmers in Ireland are over the age of 50 - one could almost quote the same statistic for GPs. Certainly we have an ageing population in farming, which is the backbone of rural communities, towns and villages. Teagasc has identified that 40% of farms will not be viable in the future, which is a huge problem for rural Ireland. I hope the Minister will be able to address that and give supports to farmers so that they can continue to provide the unique quality food we produce.

Ireland does not have enough people who see a future in farming, which is a huge problem. A large proportion of our young farmers will discontinue farming in the next decade. We need farm diversification and innovation to give them the opportunity to continue farming in their communities. We have a huge problem with rural depopulation, which has a significant impact on the services our small towns and villages have.

I thank the Minister for taking the time to listen to me earlier.

I know he understood what I was saying. Huge areas of rural Ireland are facing annihilation in the next generation unless we do something about it. The census figures are quite frightening. In County Clare, the population increased by a number of thousands but when one analyses that and drills down into it, one finds that the population in rural areas is declining rapidly. People are moving into the county towns and moving out of the counties into larger urban areas. Rural parts of rural counties are declining but the figure is hidden in the gross population of the county which might not be changing significantly. People are moving into towns and out of rural communities. That must be addressed.

As I said to the Minister earlier, the movement of people from rural communities is putting pressure on urban areas. Cities are bursting at the seams. They do not have the services to deliver for the increased population. I accept that jobs are being created in urban areas and people are moving there, but the services are not there to sustain the population so we really do need to have balanced regional development. Rural depopulation is not just a problem for rural Ireland it is also a problem for urban Ireland. I hope the Minister can get a handle on that. I know that he realises rural Ireland has a lot to offer. It just needs a little bit of support. It is not looking for a handout; it is just looking for support for rural communities to maintain their services.

I spoke to the Minister today about a rural population rejuvenation scheme. I hope that is something we can develop in the future, whereby we can take people from high-pressure housing areas and relocate them on a voluntary basis if they wish to have a change in their quality of life. It would allow people to move from a situation of endless housing lists in high pressure areas, out of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation, and become part of a rural community, support rural communities and services and give them a better quality of life. We propose that rural communities would come together to give supports to people not just to bring people to rural areas and abandon them, but to bring them to a receptive, rural community that would look after them and allow them to become part of the community, thereby supporting schools, post offices and services.

Many speakers have mentioned broadband in the context of rural Ireland. It is disappointing to see that the tendering process for broadband is now being put back until probably 2019. That is a huge disappointment. The mobile phone service in rural areas is appalling and the road structure is crumbling. I know the Minister understands that as well as I do. Rural transport services need to be supported and developed. In County Clare, we have a wonderful service called Clare Bus. It is part of the Irish Rural Link service. It is a lifeline for people, especially those with disabilities, those who are disadvantaged and people who suffer from rural isolation. It is a fantastic resource, but it needs to be supported so that the service can be developed to provide rural transport to other areas of the county and not just the north and east. People are seeking to develop services but they do need infrastructural support.

I will briefly refer to rural GPs. The Minister would be disappointed if I did not. I know he understands that medical services in rural areas are under severe pressure. We need to stimulate the development of rural general practice and bring in a contract that is flexible, and which will attract people to work in rural Ireland. This is not just a problem for rural Ireland; this is a problem being experienced throughout Europe. There are innovative ways of dealing with all of those problems, including rural GP practices, that have been developed in Sweden, Scotland and in the west of France - all the areas where there are similar difficulties - to attract and maintain GPs in rural communities.

We need to develop a community air ambulance service because of the difficulty in getting people in isolated areas urgently to hospitals. A proposal has been put to Government to develop a community air ambulance service which would be deployed within minutes and would bring seriously ill people or those affected by trauma to their nearest casualty department in a matter of minutes as opposed to hours, which is the case currently when one must wait for an ambulance to collect the patient and then travel back to the hospital. I know the Minister understands that as well.

We need to support services such as local pharmacists, public health clinics and post offices, but I will not go into detail on post offices. Rural schools and rural services must be sustained and developed. The focus must be on retaining people who live in rural communities.

We need to develop community housing services for rural people who live in isolated areas. I know the Minister is familiar with the development in Mulranny. We have a similar one in Kilmihil, which was stimulated by looking at Mulranny. We need to look after elderly people and allow them to live out their lives within their community with support in community housing developments, which we must develop because there is such a huge demographic change in Ireland at the moment. We cannot have people going into nursing homes unnecessarily and also blocking up hospital services. We must be able to bring people back into the community as soon as the acute treatments are delivered in a hospital setting.

Deputy Michael Collins referred to the Leader programme, which is a huge issue in rural Ireland. The funding for the Leader programme has been cut and the bureaucracy that is developing is making it unworkable and unsustainable. In County Clare, a total of €6,000 has been allocated in the past year because the level of bureaucracy and audit activity has made the system unworkable.

A cross-departmental approach is required for the new Department. The Minister might act as a signpost for people in rural communities to access services from other Departments because a cross-party integrated approach is needed.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to be able to speak on this important subject. It is absolutely right in terms of the allocation of resources that the Government has decided to have a Minister for rural and community development. It is one of the most important challenges for the country so it is appropriate that the area has a specific Minister in Cabinet and a Department to get it right. All the other speakers are correct in their identification of the weaknesses and not having a budget ready and perhaps not having all the roles and powers clearly defined, but the Minister's job then has to be an important strategic one. It must be to engage in the national capital plan immediately. That is today's job. It is not for tomorrow. It is an immediate priority. The Minister must be involved in the national planning framework. That is today's work. It is critical. I reiterated on many occasions what the Minister, Deputy Coveney, said previously that it is probably the most important project that this Dáil has to get right in the long term.

The Minister has a major role to play in the national climate dialogue which we need to start. Rural Ireland will be at the forefront of the discussion and it will be to the great benefit or rural areas if we get that right. Whatever about the Minister's budget and his direct powers over particular line functions or operations within the State, I encourage him to get involved at a strategic level and to make sure that there is a strategic vision for rural Ireland which is inputted into those big key strategic decisions we have to make.

The Minister will not be surprised but some others might be, that my advice to him is to go green for rural Ireland. It is the best bet and the best strategic future. I wish to outline a few reasons that is the case. People in rural Ireland and the Green Party have had differences in the past. Sometimes we made the mistake that we could have done a bit more listening and a bit less talking down to people and not admitting we do not know everything. On the other side people possibly mischaracterised us by saying all we were interested in was stag hunting and what not. That is not a true and fair reflection of either side. We need to start again. I hope the Ministry will allow us to do that because in order to have a thriving, vibrant, culturally rich, dynamic rural Ireland, green is the way to go. First, it is the way to go because in order to have a vibrant community one has to create wealth. It cannot just work on the basis that there are resources in Dublin and that they are being diverted to rural areas. There should not be a split between the development of cities and the development of rural areas. The two can and must combine together. It is a false divide.

It is said there is a divide between the Green Party and rural Ireland. Those who pitch it as a divide between urban and rural Ireland are doing a huge disservice to both. It is just not true. Scratch a Dub and there will be a country person underneath the surface. I was down in Kerry last Sunday and will be in Kilkenny on Monday. I am off to Inishbofin in two weeks' time.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is a good place.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Nobody could keep me from it. It is part of what I am. I am a Dub but I am connected to rural Ireland in a way that is real. We all are, and it would be foolish to make a false dichotomy.

The success of Dublin will help rural Ireland because it will give us resources that we can deploy. However, rural Ireland has to stand on its own two feet and thrive. We have to create wealth in whatever strategic direction we take to become really properly long-term sustainable. The reason going green will be the path to success is that there are four areas of the rural economy which can thrive by doing so. The first is the area of food and agriculture. It has to be low carbon and it has to be sustainable. We cannot abdicate. We cannot have the rest of the world taking on this incredible, momentous challenge while Irish agriculture says: "Sorry, count us out, we are an exception. We do not have to have the same targets as other people." That is not the clever way to go.

I met an interesting group of people in recent weeks. They were over here looking at what is happening on the ground. They were looking at farmers in the south east, in Kilkenny and Waterford, who are working with Glanbia in some of the latest farming practices. They were dairy farmers but the practices could be applied to other types of farming. They were absolutely green in their thinking. These were top range farmers; these guys were precision farming. They were really paying attention to grass growth, nutrients in the soil and the water system. They were really scientific in terms of measuring every corner of every field to figure out what was happening in the field, when to cut, when not to cut. They were reducing their inputs and getting better outputs. The really attractive thing about it was that they were working collectively in teams of 15. It was creating a local rural community of farmers talking to each other and sharing really precise information.

There is a great green hero, a German SPD politician, Hermann Scheer, who was a champion of this whole new clean energy, low-carbon economy. His book, The Solar Economy, written about 20 years ago, has as its absolute centre point the idea that the farmers are the front line. They are the heroes in this transition that we have to make. There is absolutely a bright economic future for Irish small family farms. A friend of mine who works in this area goes off to China every now and then to look at what they are doing. They have 15,000 to 20,000 cattle in one four-hectare lot. The Danes, the Dutch and others have gone that route and it does not work because it is capital-intensive and the farmer is left with the vagaries of market changes and prices. We should go for high precision, intense green farming and not just depend on the big international milk markets or try to compete against the Dutch or the New Zealanders, who trashed their country by taking the wrong, low-green or no-green route. We should go the other way. We go for high price, high quality, precision farming. Dairy is particularly suitable and we can see where it is viable and there is a way forward. It will be more difficult in beef, sheep and other areas, but there are other aspects of farming to which we can open up. Horticulture will have a crucial role. We need to start connecting Irish communities back to local farming so that we are not just buying all the €0.39 squashes from Lidl every week or looking for whatever is the cheapest of the cheap. We need to start valuing having connections between farmers and local communities across this island. That is the way to go.

It is a future in which farmers are the heroes of the green movement because they are the ones who are keeping the carbon in the soil. They are the ones who are providing flood management solutions. Critically, the Minister should be working with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, to ensure that they are the ones who get paid for protecting biodiversity. This row over cutting hedges and hedgerows is nonsense - we should be seeing it as our strategic advantage that we have bird wildlife and protect biodiversity and treat the whole of our land in a really careful way. All of us, rural and urban, have that in us.

Going green in food and farming is what we need. It also requires a certain intelligence in forestry. We cannot cover the country in monoculture, clearfell, 35-year cycle coniferous forest. We have already seen in places like Leitrim, Ballingeary, and Cúil Aodha how people have said "No" to that. They found the whole place was just getting covered in forest and getting blacked out. That is not the way we want to go. As part of this land management plan, we want to go for really high quality, continuous cover forestry, but unfortunately this takes a longer life cycle. We are talking about a 70 or 80 year return rather than a 30 year return. The price the farmer will get for timber in the end - it will be his children or grandchildren who will get it but we need to start thinking in this way - will be a multiple of what he would get for the low-quality timber from a fast cycle clearfell system.

Continuous cover forestry also creates a local environment that is wonderful. This brings us to the second key wealth creating aspect of rural Ireland, namely, tourism. They are all connected. If we get this right in terms of protecting biodiversity, it will support tourism. I know something about this. I worked in the sector for 15 years and my whole life was bringing people around. They came to Ireland for a sense of connection with something wonderful in our landscape as well as the welcome of the people. I could see it and I could sense it. I knew when it was working. It was good for people's health and souls when they got to rural Ireland and had a sense of wonder about the place. To get that, and to give and share it, we need to protect the wonder of the place. It comes with continuous cover forestry in a way that it does not with the dense, dark, nothing-beneath-the-canopy forestry that we have planted to date.

In this national plan, which is for the Minister, Deputy Ring, to influence, we are going to have to look at large sections of the land which are not as high yielding in grass, particularly, and in agriculture. We need to recognise that a large part of the north and west of the country is closer to parkland than intense agricultural land. We should pay people for developing and protecting every aspect of that so that it becomes a greenway. I see a potential greenway. The Wild Atlantic Way is a greenway from top to bottom. We should start connecting up all the greenways in a really ambitious, creative way so that one part of the country does not get ahead of the other. Every part of needs to be included. We need six greenways in Dublin. I am campaigning for them at the moment. We need the same in Connemara, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal and right the way up the north-west coast, down to the south-west coast and along the east coast as well. Tourism is by nature a green industry. People are not coming here to see motorways. They are coming to see a boreen and a connection to their vision and image of Ireland, which we have to maintain and provide. We should have high-quality infrastructure; let us not do all the branding around Origin Green but not actually deliver it.

The third area is energy. This is where we will create employment for rural Ireland. It is a different energy system. It is a distributed system. It is one in which rural Ireland has real potential. We have an incredible growing climate. We cannot use that growing material for burning in power stations but we can use some of the food plants for advanced combined heat and power, CHP. We can get farming communities working together in a community way so that they are not only working out the precision management of their grass, but also how to share waste material and other resources to produce anaerobic digestion. We must also work together so that there is community ownership of solar power, which is the next development. Rather than the big solar farms, big developers, big money, quarry banks and whatnot coming in from Australia, pumping money into big projects - this is where the Minister, Deputy Ring, needs to work with the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to deliver it - the first step is to get every one of those dairy farmers set up with solar panels on the barn, house or creamery roof so they are the ones who are starting to benefit from it. They have demand for it straight away in their cooling systems.

One-off housing in the country is going to be specifically fitted for this energy future.

One of the difficulties with an electric vehicle, to take that as an example, is how it can be facilitated in an apartment block or a row of terraced houses if there is no easy way to put in the grid connection. Rural one-off houses are perfectly placed for us to fit in an electric vehicle.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Absolutely.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

They should be the first place-----

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We can put up the windmills and all.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We can. We have huge wind resources.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We have them in here too.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Windmills are not going to work when they are small, unfortunately. They do not prove to be as economic. The reason they are large is because that tends to be more economic. They could be owned by the community. Then we could start to make connections. If people know that their electric cars are run from a windmill in their locality, they will start to make connections.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

They could be run from solar panels.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We could use both. More rural houses should have electric car connections. As electric vehicles start to be suitable for longer distances, their range will not be a problem. If the oil-fired central heating in such houses were replaced with heat pumps and proper exterior insulation were put in place, and if the people in those houses were using electric vehicles, we would start to have high-quality housing that is part of the green solution. We need to have that sort of ambition for every single Irish rural house. Such houses should be properly insulated and should have electric vehicle charging points. People living in one-off rural houses have to drive. The electrical systems in such houses should be connected to the local power supply. It is important for people to see their own local power supplies. All of this is doable. It is not pie in the sky. It is already happening in smart countries that have a bit of strategic vision and leadership, which is what we need.

The last, but not least, of the four areas in which employment can be created is in the digital transformation. Everyone else has spoken about the need for broadband. I might reflect on the other side of the equation, which is how that broadband should be used. I was distraught last night when I heard the Minister, Deputy Naughten, say he does not want be involved in "another PPARS or another e-voting machine fiasco". I do not know whether those words were written by the Department or by the Minister. I fear they were written by the Department. I suspect that people in the public administrative system have developed such a fear of any innovative digital application that the lesson is "whatever you do, do nothing". Public servants are advised not to take any risks or chances with the development of the use and application of digital technologies.

I knew the bank in Schull very well. I knew the people who used to manage it. I regret very much that it is gone. I regret that the position is the same in Goleen, in all points in between and in pretty much most of west Cork. We have to turn that terrible disadvantage into an advantage by developing new mobile banking applications and the latest and smartest modern technology to replace the old bricks-and-mortar system, which will not come back easily. We have an opportunity to develop a really advanced financial and banking service for rural Ireland, probably through the post office system. I would like it to be a public banking system. I met people from the German Sparkasse group today. They have been knocking on the door here for three years. They have the most intelligent banking proposal going. It is vital for the development of rural Ireland. Its simple key premise, on which none of the other banks can deliver, is that the deposits raised in a certain region or local community should be reinvested and loaned into that same local area. These guys are professional bankers. They go back to the sort of banking I knew about, where the local manager had a good knowledge of his local people. That sort of modern, inventive and innovative application, which is based on digital solutions, can help us to move to a public banking model with high technology capability. It is well suited to the world we live in today. Such strategic plans are needed.

If the Minister, Deputy Ring, does one thing in his new job, which does not have a huge budget, he should take the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, aside and sit him down with the German bankers I have mentioned. Their model can apply here. Irish people like Séamus Boland of Irish Rural Link have been working with them for the past two or three years. That one project alone would transform the rural economy. I will explain how this can work. It is important to appreciate that we are not just talking about rural areas; we are also talking about the development of towns. Deputy Harty said that towns in County Clare are booming and doing well. I would suggest that some are and some are not. I know them reasonably well. They are not doing as well as they could. I will not refer to Gort because it is in County Galway. Is Kilrush booming? It is not. We need Kilrush to thrive. It is a beautiful town, with typically stunning 19th century architecture and a stunning location. Why is it not thriving? This is about the towns more than anything else. If all of these digital systems are ultimately to thrive, towns like Kilrush need to have the best schools in the country. I am sure Kilrush has one of the best schools in the country. I have no knowledge of the school in question.

Every one of the towns I am talking about needs to be a centre of excellence. The children in those towns should go to the best educational establishments that can found. A bit of scale is needed if that is to be possible. Bigger schools give kids a certain chance. They meet more people. They have different subject choices. There is more of a mix, which is something that is needed as part of the education system. I think we need to get that right. The towns of rural Ireland need to be developed. We need to get people back living in the towns. I understand that no one is living on Main Street in Schull.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is scandalous.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is a beautiful street. It should be full of young people in cheap housing. Last but not least, I want to echo what Deputy Collins said. If the Minister does one other thing in addition to making changes with regard to public banking, I suggest he should grab the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, and not let him go until he agrees to the creation of district councils. They could be voluntary. I suggest the Clonakilty model should be applied across the whole country. I do not know where the Clonakilty border stops. There should probably be some border point between Clonakilty and Timoleague or Rosscarbery. There should be no gaps. We need to get away from the 19th century concept that the town stops on the edge of the town. It does not. The town probably stops five or seven miles out. We should create district councils for every single town in the country.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

And every village and every countryside area.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Each council area should connect up with the neighbouring council area. This is doable. It is up for play. I ask the Minister to achieve two or three of the things I have suggested. They do not require a budget. They just require a bit of vision. The Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Eoghan Murphy, and others need to be convinced that this is the way to go. If the Minister takes this approach, he will get widespread support in this House, particularly from the Green Party, which is all about the development of rural Ireland.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an Aire, an Teachta Ring, ar a phost nua. I welcome the Minister's appointment and wish him well. I know he is a rural Deputy. He was very active when his constituency colleague was flying around the world doing business. He was looking after the house at home, which is very important. When the farmer goes to the mart, someone must look after the cattle and the sheep at home. The Minister did this efficiently. He was made fun of on "Scrap Saturday" and by Oliver Callan on many occasions, but he did what he needed to do. He was there. I heard about him from all the people in County Mayo. Various people told me that he was always a ground worker. I know he will fight in the Cabinet alongside his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne.

The members of the Rural Independent Group have met representatives of Foróige, which was on its knees three or four days ago. I raised the matter here last week and I spoke to the Minister yesterday. The Minister delivered in his current portfolio and I thank him for that. Gabhaim míle buíochas leis. Foróige is a wonderful organisation that does the work we are talking about this evening throughout the country.

I was very disappointed when I read the script delivered by the Minister this morning. He said that "this Bill has just one purpose, to establish the new Department, confer a name upon the Department and to provide for a Minister who will be in charge of the Department". One would think that such simple language could be understood by baby infants. However, the next paragraph was worrying:

It is important to note that the Bill does not confer any functions on the Department. The new Department's functions are still being finalised and these will be transferred at the earliest opportunity following the enactment of the Bill.

There lies the problem. The Minister knows that I am very pro-life. I will not get into that here. When a couple is expecting a baby, it is lovely. They find out whether it is a boy or a girl and they choose a name. If the baby goes through the full gestation and is delivered safe and well, everyone is happy. Then there is a christening. When are we going to have the christening? When are we going to hear about the other functions? We are breaking up for the summer holidays on Friday. We have no idea when this will happen. Where is the commitment from the Government?

As my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group and others have said, we made it clear at the Government formation talks that a full Minister - an Aire for rural Ireland - was very important to us. It was talked about, as other people have said. The media ran with stories on it. We were very disappointed when we got the hind tit, if the Chair will excuse the language. She knows what a hind tit is. A cow has four tits. It might have a hind tit. It could be a dry one as well. We would call that a dúidín. It would be useless. It was a hind tit Department. That is what it was.

Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A stripper.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

One could call it that. I would not like to call it that. I will stick to my own parlance.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy McGrath, más é do thoil é.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Lean ar aghaidh, más é do thoil é.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Yes. Go raibh maith agat. We do not have the béal bocht.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Lean ar aghaidh leis an script.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is a veterinary term.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I know it is a veterinary term. The people in the country want what they are entitled to - no more and no less. The Chair is a very fine representative of her constituency of Galway West and of rural Ireland. We are not interested in tokenism. Rural-proofing is needed in every Department to help this new Department. Other Departments should not be envious of the new Department. However, it has no budget. It has a name, but it has had no launch or christening. That will not even be considered. I am worried that this is tokenism on the part of the Minister. We fought hard for this. We were promised one thing by the Taoiseach during the talks.

We were promised that this Government would be different. He could not form a Government and has retired, God be with him. He said he would change the permanent government, the Civil Service, and make it reflective of the new politics. He did not do that and it seems it cannot be done. I hope the new Minister does it. I hope he brings in hand-picked people who are prepared to do the stuff for Ireland, not talk about it.

Deputy Eamon Ryan had a conversion regarding rural Ireland a few weeks ago when he met farmers. He should know that the vast majority of farmers are good farmers. They mind the land and husband it well, as they do the environment. I served in government with the Deputy when they took away our car parking at the back of this building and now we cannot park anywhere. They put grass on it and we have to pay a fortune to rent a space. I would not mind if they had put sheep or goats on it but it is grass, which has to be mowed and maintained. These are silly things. When I brought forward a proposal for a water recycling project in rural national schools using roof water for toilets and washing the yards, the former Minister, John Gormley, would not hear of it. This was a simple project. A very innovative group came to me and said they could put such systems in schools for approximately €12,000 and it would have given a great education to children in the school, but he was more worried about stag hunting and other things. One day I said to him he would stop the cat chasing the mouse. That Government became silly. Projects could have been done but were not and they have not been done yet. We need to educate our young people, though they will educate us anyway because they are good on the environment and with issues like litter and Tidy Towns, etc. We should not be talking about bringing water to Dublin when 48% of it is leaking from pipes. That is another attack on rural Ireland. We take everything from rural Ireland and give the rubbish dumps back to it. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae spoke about moving the Red Cow to Skellig Michael but we have to do something about it. We need a road project to sort it out.

We must let the permanent government know that rural Ireland exists. We are a proud, vibrant people but we cannot take any more knocks. We have been knocked and kicked and bureaucracy has strangled us. We are like a man who has fallen into the water and cannot swim out - I cannot swim, by the way - because bureaucracy is dragging us down in every area. Deputy Ryan said he was all for building houses in rural Ireland but I did not find that when he was in government. I welcome his conversion because we have to build houses in rural Ireland. I have dozens of young couples who want to build houses on farmers' lands and have bought sites. They have the money and the courage, the vision and the passion to settle down and have a family and their own home but they cannot get planning permission and people are going to the cities where people are forced to sleep in little hovels.

The policies are there but the planners are getting more powerful all the time so nothing can be delivered. The Minister has to bring in his own doers, of which there are some in the Civil Service. We had the voting machines and other scandals, other hare-brained ideas from experts which I railed against at the time. When their expert proposals flop, however, they are not heard of. As Deputy Collins said, one should always ask the community or a busy person, a duine gnóthach. If one wants something done in Ireland, one should ask the community and voluntary associations, which I am proud of and all of which I can list - from Canon Hayes of Muintir na Tíre to the ICA, from which 55 good women are coming tomorrow to visit our Parliament. We must try to keep the work they do and the values they instil because they hold things together.

There is also the scaremongering about, and attacks on, the church on account of the baptism rule. The Government has failed utterly to provide enough places but it suits it and others in here to attack the church on account of the baptism rule. It is a fallacy peddled here and by people in the right-wing liberal media. It is fashionable to bash the church but we did not build enough schools. There are playschools and naíonraí. I was chairman of a committee that set up a naíonra, which is still employing 21 people and looks after families from 20 or 30 miles away. It is a voluntary company limited by guarantee and we went through hoops to get funding from Pobal.

This Government has no real interest in rural Ireland and the Bill has serious deficiencies. The Minister might address concerns about whether the North-South bodies, the Gaeltacht, the rural social scheme, Tús, farm assist and rural transport will come under his remit. Will they or will they not? Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad? Will we have a bus? What will we have? It is all a fiction. The Government announced it in a blaze of glory but there is nothing. The Minister is busy in his constituency but I do not know what he will do in the portfolio. Will he have an office or a secretary? Will he have anything to do until the statutory instruments or ministerial orders are moved. We are buying a pig in a poke. It is like buying a lucky bag in a shop when we were ladeens, buachaillí. We were glad if we got something good but disappointed if we got an old tumbler or something. The Bill is nothing but a sop to appease the people of rural Ireland and to pull the wool over their eyes. The wool has been pulled up now, though, and they found the Government out after the actions of the former Minister, Big Phil the Destroyer, who is now off on a rich pension in Europe or playing golf in Kerry.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy to stick to the Bill.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

He destroyed rural Ireland. He destroyed town councils, urban councils and borough councils and bulldozed our two communities together in Tipperary by merging two constituencies into one. Tipperary was divided by the British because they could not rule us and we were unruly. We are a proud people and are not looking for anything with a béal bocht but we want to be allowed to breathe. The Government destroyed the Leader programme - a fine model which was set up all over Europe. It was the envy of Europe and a model everyone wanted to use but the Minister's colleague, the former Taoiseach, told me there was trouble in the Leader programme in Mayo. There may have been one or two bits of trouble but not with the vast majority of programmes. They were all volunteers, as Deputy Collins said. I was an initiator of the rural transport scheme in Carlow, Kilkenny and south Tipperary and I never took a cent for going to meetings, nor did any other board member. They are still doing it and I salute them and the other volunteers who are running this country.

The Government destroyed the Leader programme and not a cent was spent on it because the county councils wanted it. They are now seen as the regulatory authority but they should never have got Leader because Leader was a bottom-up scheme. The people le chéile, the duine óg and the duine aosta everywhere, worked hard. They had the ideas, the passion and the vision and did not want to be stifled by the county council taking over the Leader programme, but nothing is happening now. I often stood in fields and villages and 7.30 a.m or 10.30 p.m. with Leader officials but one would be a long time waiting to get a council official in a field or an office, even at 8 o'clock in the morning or 4.30 p.m. The Government hijacked it and banjaxed the programme. Now the wheels have fallen off the wagon and nothing is happening in Leader.

There is a flight of GPs, such as Deputy Harty, and a problematic age profile but the Government is not looking. There is a 40-year old GP contract but the Government will not renegotiate it, instead expecting people to work in Dickensian buildings and with little or no support. I salute the GPs. We opposed the scheme for free GP services for children aged under six in Tipperary because we predicted it would cause bedlam and there has been a 40% increase in people going to the GP. It is not because they are really sick but because they can get the service for free and that is silly. Nothing is free.

They community air ambulance was a fabulous community group which wanted to help bring people to hospital, to prevent cases such as that of the poor unfortunate man from Waterford who was being driven to hospital but died in an ambulance in Dungarvan on the way to Cork. We have a community air ambulance scheme but the HSE does not want it as it is an irritant. The Government forced through the children's hospital in Dublin and it was a monumental scandal to build a hospital in that location when there was a magnificent site on the M50 which would have allowed people from all over the country to have access. The decision will haunt us all for the rest of our lives.

The Government is trying to stop people supporting themselves. They might not see it but the hands of bureaucracy are like the handlebars of a bike - one needs a hammer and a chisel to get them off. I am tired of saying that. I have no disrespect for the officials who are here and I thank them for being patient with us as we rush this stuff through before we go out, but the permanent government has to be dealt with.

The Taoiseach promised that, but it has not happened and it must happen.

The Government has a rural action plan in respect of which 4,000 projects have been submitted by communities, only 40 of which will be allowed to proceed. The former Taoiseach announced this in Glenamaddy or Longford somewhere. He talked about this road and that road. I said it was like the four roads of Glenamaddy with Big Tom but we had no guitar and no song because we had no money. People have filled out these application forms and gone through the first selection process, the expression of interest process and reams and reams and there is nothing to give them. The money the Government allocated for the 4,000 projects would not buy a stamp. These people want to do it. The Tidy Towns groups all applied, delivering local development companies into small villages, all accountable to Big Brother and the men watching them. We spent two hours one night at a Ring a Link rural transport meeting trying to account for a €20 underspend. That is with the arduous rules and regulations regarding accountability, and rightly so. There is no fraud or misappropriation of funds going on there but there may be with the big boys, the banks, even the charities - the whole lot of it. I saw one of our retired bankers today in the paper. He is now terrorising the people in a different country, in Africa, laughing all the way to the bank. We see this every day of the week. The people who want to do the work will not be left to do it. The Government is like the dog in the manger. They will do the work but the Government will not let them do it. The Minister knows this well and I do not want to be critical of him.

I do not even want to go near broadband because I am a very good friend and colleague of the Minister, Deputy Naughten. However, I believe he is sadly being deluded and codded because broadband has got worse. We hear of so many houses a minute getting fibre broadband. I do not know how many minutes there are in a year but that is a lot of houses. I have been sick of announcements here since the previous Fianna Fáil Government, of which I was a member, then the Labour-Fine Gael coalition and now this Government. Announcements and timelines are given. I do not know why the Ministers come in here and read them out because they know they are all dubious and con jobs. We are told Eir and some other company are getting the work. Let the community people do it. They will do it honestly, quickly and, as I said, fairly. It is not fair that people have no broadband, whether it be a student doing his CAO or a farmer trying to claim his single farm payment.

Regarding the mobile phone service, when I came to the Dáil ten years ago I could get on the phone in my village and stay on it the whole time until I got up to the Dáil. Now I cannot. It has got worse and worse but we are being peddled the story that everything is so good and so rosy.

As I said, the Tidy Towns groups do work and have initiatives. If the Minister gets the reins, the money and the portfolio, I know he will do the work. However, I have a funny feeling that perhaps someone did not want him to get into the Cabinet. I wish him well on his appointment as a full member of the Cabinet but he will be like an empty vessel, unfortunately. I do not say that disparagingly to him because I respect his enthusiasm and work rate, but it will not happen for rural Ireland. Perhaps he will change things with the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, beside him, and I hope the Ministers from the Independent Alliance will support him. However, as I said about the situation regarding the voluntary housing associations, we have a huge housing crisis that is increasing and we are talking about reports and quarterly reports. I am sick and tired of it. Tipperary County Council did not build a house last year in the middle of a crisis with 3,000 people approved and about another 8,000 applying. What has gone wrong? Big Brother is stifling us all, herding us all into cities and bigger cities.

I heard a constituency colleague of the Acting Chairman's, Deputy Ó Cuív, talking about Galway this morning. There is traffic chaos given the facilities and everything else going to Galway. I met the head of IDA Ireland in Washington, the night before St. Patrick's Day this year. He told me that IDA Ireland cannot get a company to go anywhere in Ireland now except Dublin. It is hard enough to get companies to come to Ireland at all. It is policy after policy for the permanent governments and then we had IDA Ireland and the other group that was set up all over the country, ConnectIreland, which is doing great work again. It started with a voluntary seed - a small acorn into an oak tree grows - and it was doing great work. IDA Ireland got corporatism and now the scheme it delivered is gone. It was given an old patch. IDA Ireland said it was doing this work as it was its area, but now the scheme is gone. It brought jobs to Tipperary, Galway, west Cork, Kerry and everywhere else and had more coming. We raised this here with the Minister and in the deputation.

I know of a company called SNC-Lavalin Group that took over a fabulous company in Clonmel called MF Kent. This happened with other companies in Tipperary. They get taken over. There is no one watching it, whether the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission or anyone else. They are letting these multibillion-dollar companies come in and hijack and banjax things and treat workers appallingly in Clonmel. I will not stray into it but this is happening again with another multibillion-dollar company taking over another company, and there were only 40 jobs left in Clonmel. Kentz, formerly MF Kent, employed 15,000 people and I salute Frank Kent for setting it up. It had world recognition and these cowboy outfits have now taken it over. They have been run out of several countries. I could read the details of this into the record but I will not. They are involved in huge lawsuits and have been banned from government contracts and we let them come in here. They took over JS Atkins for £2.1 billion only two weeks ago and they are destroying our workers here. They have no respect for the workers in Clonmel who have given the service.

This has happened across the board. We talk about our big conglomerates and the Kerry Groups and Glanbias and so on. All is not so healthy there. Kerry Group was not half anxious to come up when it got the invitation and leave where it was in Kerry, where it started. All is not wonderful in the capital or in these big companies. As I said, we should support the local small business man and the people who want to build their own houses.

The Government should give some substance and support to the GPs who are the first port of call. We have trolley crisis after trolley crisis. If the GPs are gone, the trolley crises are ten times worse. One need not be a rocket scientist to guess this one, but I do not know what has gone on with the permanent government and the Ministers and taoisigh who are afraid to tackle it. It must be tackled. The permanent government must become the public servants they are being paid to be, allow the public to get the services and not treat people like peasants, giving them crumbs from the table. We want justice in rural Ireland, we want fairness, we are not the béal bocht, we want the respect we deserve and we want to be able to live and thrive. The communities, GAA clubs, soccer clubs, all the other different clubs and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann will all make the communities viable.

We are destroying our pubs with the attack on them by the new law. I know many in Cabinet are against it. I got a text tonight saying they are all being whipped into vote for it. All the legislation that is passed, including the Minister, Deputy Ross's, legislation, which he is passionate about, and I respect him for that, must be rural-proofed because we are stifling and killing-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A Theachta-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am nearly finished. We must rural-proof any legislation. If the Minister does not get the support of the other Cabinet members, he might as well stay with no portfolio, no child, no christening and no name because he will be frustrated. I want to support him. I want him in his reply, or someone else, to tell me the timeline of when he expects to get a portfolio, when he might have a christening and when he might have a few bob. I am talking about money. He will not get any money, so we need action. It is long past time and we might laugh about it here. This is farcical.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Succinct and to the point.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It might not have been succinct but it was to the point.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Deputies who have contributed to the debate on the formation of the new Department of Rural and Community Development. I think most Deputies have the best interests of rural Ireland at heart and see the merits in setting up a dedicated Department to progress the social and economic development of rural Ireland, as well as supporting both rural and urban communities through the community development division of the new Department.

The purpose of the Bill we are debating is to establish a new Department of State. The Bill is standard legislation in this regard. The detail of the functions of the Department will be addressed through a transfer of functions order. Work is ongoing on the transfer of functions from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. There are a small number of areas still under discussion between the relevant Ministers and Secretaries General, but the first transfer of functions orders will be brought to Government for approval at the earliest opportunity.

A number of Deputies have expressed views about specific functions they believe should transfer to the new Department of Rural and Community Development. I appreciate why they might hold these views, but the fact of the matter is that rural and community development is the responsibility of many Departments and the impact can be all the better for a multi-departmental approach. It is better for the Ministers with policy responsibility and expertise in particular areas to apply their policies to the benefit of rural Ireland, whether that be in respect of housing, jobs, roads or services. Just as the Government tackled the jobs crisis on a whole-of-Government basis through the Action Plan for Jobs, we need every Department to play its part in helping revitalise rural Ireland. We need key economic Departments such as Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Communications, Climate Action and Environment, and Transport, Tourism and Sport to be full and active participants in supporting rural Ireland and supporting community development.

My role will be to ensure that a co-ordinated approach is taken across Government. I will be the voice for rural Ireland at the Cabinet table and will make other Departments accountable for their actions regarding rural Ireland. The new Department of Rural and Community Development will have a strong policy focus in its own right and will work closely across the Government system to ensure that other Departments' policies are rural-proofed.

This is what the action plan for rural development is about. That is why it is different from what has been tried previously. I assure the Deputies that I will be seeking to increase the funding available for rural Ireland in the 2018 budget. Issues such as broadband, infrastructure and jobs are the key priorities for rural Ireland, and need investment. There are other things that we can do that are not dependent on money to make a lasting impact on rural Ireland. For example, my officials have started work on developing a new policy for social enterprise. This is something that has been sorely absent up to now, but my officials have already started on the process, in consultation with the social enterprise sector.

Deputy Tóibín raised a number of points which I would like to respond to on the subject of Leader. I share the Deputy’s concern about the programme. Every Deputy here today raised the issue of the Leader programme. I want to see the programme implemented as effectively and as efficiently as possible, and I am aware of the concerns that have been expressed regarding some of the administrative procedures related to the programme. On 17 May, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, hosted a forum with participants from all of the local action groups and the local development companies delivering Leader to explore the issues of concern to them and to identify potential solutions aimed at streamlining the current procedures. As a result of that consultation process, we have been in touch with all of the local action groups and local development companies to update them on 31 improvements that we intend to make to improve the administrative process under Leader. On the basis of the administrative changes being introduced and the progress now being made by the local action groups, I anticipate a significant increase in project approvals and payments under Leader over the coming months.

On the issue of regional development, I believe that strong regions provide the basis for improving economic opportunities and job creation in rural areas. My Department will continue to support regional development and to deliver the regional initiatives it has been involved in to date. These include working with the Western Development Commission to support the economic development of the western region, progressing the Atlantic economic corridor proposal with key stakeholders, working with local authorities to facilitate the preparations for the roll-out of the national broadband plan, and to improve mobile phone services throughout the regions. My Department will continue to work closely with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on the new national planning framework and with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in relation to the regional action plans for jobs.

With regard to the Western Development Commission, one of the first things I intend to do once the new Department is established is to appoint a new board and to give them a clear mandate to work together and to co-operate with other key agencies to support the development of the western region. A priority for the incoming board will be to appoint a new CEO. I have received sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to make this appointment, but it is the board’s function to arrange the recruitment of that person and I hope they will do it quickly. I also want to clarify a point about the Western Development Commission’s budget. The commission was allocated an additional €1 million in capital funding for 2016 and 2017, but was restricted under its legislation as to how that could be spent. I secured additional current funding for the Western Development Commission at the end of 2016 to conduct some additional work for the Department.

I assure Deputy Tóibín that my new Department is also active in the area of North-South co-operation. I will be involved in the North-South Ministerial Council set up under the Good Friday Agreement and officials from my Department will also participate on the steering committee on cross-Border rural development, SCCBRD, where there is regular and ongoing contact between officials on both sides of the Border.

I compliment all the Deputies today who raised many rural issues. I have been given the responsibility for rural economic development, and I will do my best. It is a great honour to be in the Cabinet. I have a very difficult job to do, but I intend to do that job. I intend to work with all of the Deputies in this House, to listen to their views and to do whatever I can at Cabinet level to make sure that rural Ireland gets its fair share of the national cake. Of course there are many difficulties out there, but there are many positive things happening in rural Ireland as well. There are many very bright young people who are working very hard and are setting up businesses. They are people who want some support. There are many small businesses. If they got a little support from the local authorities and Government, they would be able to employ many more people. It is my job as Minister to make sure that every Government Department is rural-proofed, and I will do that.

The Deputies raised many issues, and we have many issues. I am will not be able to resolve every single issue that was raised here today, but I certainly will be there at Government level to support and make sure that Ministers are listening and that the Government will provide the necessary funding to do what needed to be done. Dr. Carty has said that we have to try to get people back living in rural Ireland. That is why when I came in as Minister of State that I re-introduced the CLÁR programme. I know Deputy Ó Cuív raised it today. He set up that scheme, but it had not operated for many years. I re-introduced that scheme. The rural recreation scheme, the town and village scheme, and many other schemes have to be looked at to see what we can do to assist and help rural communities. That is my job, and I will do it. I want to get the approval of the House today so that I can sit down with Government to get my orders and make sure I can carry out whatever responsibility I have. I will discuss it at committee and the Dáil, and do whatever we can do together to try and revitalise rural Ireland. That is my job and the job of the Deputies present here. Working together I believe that we can have a better rural Ireland.