Francis O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, to discuss the important issue of rural development. It is encouraging to see that rural development initiatives still feature prominently in the policies being implemented by the Government. Senator Bannon is wrong to say that it has been forgotten. I assure the Senator that rural development will not be forgotten.

I come from the Cavan-Monaghan constituency, where rural development measures are extremely important to counterbalance the disadvantages of being close to the Border. The latter has created difficult economic conditions.