Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Ar dtús ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire anseo inniu. As a Senator who comes from one of the so-called major urban areas, probably the one that has benefited least, the city of Waterford, the debate in which we are engaged is close to my heart. Those living in rural areas should bear in mind there are many who live in urban areas who have come from rural backgrounds and their hearts are in rural areas also.

The Minister has spoken previously about services to small remote villages, of which there are many in County Waterford. In recent years An Post, the banks and several other institutions have withdrawn their services from many rural towns. This is a retrograde step. Villages and towns which have had access to those services have suffered because of their withdrawal.

I refer in particular to An Post, which I mentioned here previously. Only two years ago, it spent €4.5 million on a state-of-the-art sorting office to deal with post from the surrounding areas. Recently, it has been mooted that this office will be abandoned and that sorting will be done in Cork city. When one thinks of the amount of money spent and of the many rural post offices being closed, it puts into perspective what that company thinks about people in rural communities. Not enough thought is given to rural communities by these companies and, in many instances, profit is put before service to the community.

I wish to deal now with the question of decentralisation. The Government has dragged its heels on this issue for too long. It is giving An Post, the banks and so on the opportunity to leave rural areas. The Government published a spatial strategy, but it did not mention the towns to which decentralised Departments will go. The sooner it does so, the better. It is time the Government grasped the nettle in this regard.