Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I will go a step further and state that as a Member of this House, I would be dissatisfied if in the future a Minister or Minister of State did not feel at liberty or, indeed, obligated to come here to discuss such an issue.

Senator McHugh said the Minister did not provide Members with a copy of his speech. Members have access to computers. I have a copy of the 2003 CLÁR report, a copy of which the Minister stated will be in Members' pigeonholes later this evening. However, this important report is available on the Internet.

It is not possible for people to speak from a broad base and, at the same time, expect to obtain specific information. That will not happen. One must get down to specifics and the specifics are particularly clear. Anybody who knows that CLÁR stands for Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais understands on what it intended to focus. One of the basic focuses was the pre-consultative aspect. The Minister consulted on priorities in particular areas. In all CLÁR areas, with the exception of one, disadvantage and a decline in population were identified as matters of priority. If that is not a challenge to any Minister or programme, I do not know what is. The Minister sought to prioritise those issues.

Senator McHugh asked in good faith what tarring a road has to do with halting the decline in rural populations. It is related in the same way as building a house or providing any other aspect of infrastructure. At the end of the day, everybody wants quality of life and that quality of life requires basic elements of infrastructure. We cannot suggest that one should ignore all the disadvantages and weaknesses in infrastructure and in some way, on a foundation of shifting sands, put in place a programme which will achieve miracles overnight. That is not possible.

Some €13.4 million, a 55% increase on the previous year, has been spent in this area. I doubt if any amount of public money ever spent has achieved what has been achieved with that funding. That was possible because there was a partnership in place. Money was not spent on consultants or peripheral issues; it was spent on tangible assets for particular communities. The areas in which that money was spent are so varied it would take one three hours to read them out. That is the strength of CLÁR. One cannot apply uniformity in a programme like CLÁR. Each area has a different set of requirements and needs something specific. That is precisely the reason there are so many areas involved.

If the Government is looking for value for money, then there is little that will ever show up in our accounts to match what has been done by the CLÁR programme. Rockchapel in Cork, an area with a huge decline in population, which up to four or five years ago was apathetic about the possibility of there ever being any improvement in its situation, benefited from this programme. I do not come from Rockchapel but I have seen the results of those benefits on the ground. I am speaking with a neutral voice in terms of the benefits there. I witnessed a new enhancement coming into play, a new invigoration being set in motion. What does that mean? It means one cannot expect to turn back the clock with a single swipe of a pen or one tranche of money. That will not happen. One has to enable the people to take the necessary steps. What is important is that what was done was tangible and relative to the area in question.

I was sorry the Minister commenced his contribution in the manner he did today.