James Bannon (Fine Gael)

The upper Shannon rural renewal tax incentive has been a very beneficial incentive for County Longford. Since its introduction, it has brought about major increases in business, tourism and building development. All of this work has been undertaken by many people within Longford. Some of these projects have been completed, while others have yet to be completed or are at the planning stage.

One of the main reasons I have raised this matter is the need to allow communities who may have missed out due to delays in other local government programmes, such as water services and small sewerage schemes, to gain some benefits from this rural renewal incentive. With some schemes either just developed or close to construction stage, the advantage to be gained from joined-up Government policy will be lost if tax incentives are withdrawn. These incentives have been withdrawn since 31 December 2004. Time rang out on the scheme as development applications were flooding into Longford County Council. I ask the Minister to extend the programme for another two years until December 2006 for receipt of planning applications and December 2008 for the completion of works.

The large number of locally based applications at the latter stage of the rural renewal scheme highlights the positive economic effect of the initiative and, according to Michael Killeen, Longford county manager, the trend will continue if the deadlines are extended. The scheme has had a significant and positive impact on the social and economic wellbeing of the area covered in the upper Shannon renewal tax incentive, the original designation of which was based on poor economic performance and weak population structure. It could be argued that the areas covered did not have the capacity to develop in the early stages of the scheme because they were so poorly positioned in terms of economic performance. Longford is still the cheapest county in which to buy a house and is the county that pays the lowest level of tax, evidence that the scheme is still needed.

The Minister can appreciate the huge benefits that were provided by this scheme. As the initiative has progressed, it has had a positive impact on the economic strength of the region and greater numbers are in a position to take advantage of all the scheme has to offer. To remove the benefits of the scheme at this juncture would be counterproductive and have a regressive effect on the communities involved. The county managers of the five counties affected by the withdrawal of the scheme — Longford, Roscommon, Cavan, Sligo and Leitrim — have taken the unprecedented step of coming together to request the extension of the scheme and have strongly petitioned the Minister to continue to fund this very important initiative. I also have the backing of the 21 members of Longford County Council, the nine members of Longford Town Council and the nine members of Granard Town Council to push for the continuance of the scheme. The chambers of commerce in Longford, Granard, Edgeworthstown, Ballymahon and Lanesboro also all back the continuance of the scheme. I join them in impressing on the Minister the importance to Longford and the other counties that come under the umbrella of the upper Shannon rural renewal tax incentive scheme of the continuance of funding to extend and expand the benefits to them.

The Minister is aware that we are in the BMW region and there is a huge underspend of funding in that region, as was highlighted in the mid-term report. There are many clear reasons this scheme should be continued. The area it covers is small and the most underdeveloped in the country. We would greatly appreciate if the Minister could give due consideration to the continuance of the scheme.