Joe O'Toole (Independent)

The two previous speakers, who also hail from County Kerry, have discussed much of the detail on this issue. Consequently, I will make some broader points and will focus on some narrower ones thereafter. The saddest thing about the congregation of Members for this debate, with the honourable exception of Senator Paschal Donohoe, is that it reflects all that is wrong with regional development in Ireland. Whenever someone has a go at a particular locality in rural Ireland, the only Members who show up to discuss it are those from the affected county. Attendance at this debate should reflect all counties in the west of Ireland. This is what happens all the time and the west is being denuded because everyone is watching his or her own patch.

I consider this proposal to be an absolute outrage against the west coast. It constitutes yet another denuding of support, infrastructure and tradition from rural Ireland. As I am not familiar with the detailed facts as put forward by the Irish Coast Guard, I will not engage in an exchange on them. However, whatever the economic rights and wrongs of this proposal, it is wrong socially and in every other way.

I will tell a story. On Easter week of 1916, two signatories of the proclamation sent two men to Valentia. While I do not have time to go into details, they were sent down to break into Fitzgerald's radio centre between Cahirciveen and Valentia, to steal radio systems they could use to communicate with the German ship that was bringing rifles to Banna Strand. The cultural and historical tradition extends back that far in that parish and is almost as old as radio. The Minister of State must understand that it is not simply a matter of the number of jobs.

I know both Malin and Valentia. A lovely new school has been located on the north side of Malin on the way towards Malin Head, which will lose numbers as a result of this measure. Every time one removes something from any small parish in the west, a ripple effect takes place throughout the community and everyone suffers in some way. Moreover, this is of great cultural significance and the points made by the previous speakers were highly impactful.

I am an offshore member of the RNLI and if I am sitting in Dursey Sound and wondering whether to stick my nose out into Kenmare Bay or to venture along the coast as far as Valentia, I would like to know that the person who speaking to me from Valentia is able to say what the swell is like, what kind of wind is blowing, whether there are many white tops in front of him or her or what is the story. Alternatively, if I am offshore and wish to get into Portmagee around Bray Head, I want someone who knows every inch of the area to be able to tell me it is a bit rough today, a south westerly is blowing up and it is dangerous and difficult. Anyone from any place from the south west to Malin who has ever suffered a night waiting for a lost boat to make contact and return home knows that the dependency on Malin and Valentia was an integral part of how we grew up. We grew up listening to old ships' radios and while matters obviously have advanced since then, in the old days everyone tuned into channel 16 and listened to the marine services. These services are always present and know every inch of the region. Although the Minister of State's speech made clear distinctions between the various aspects of the service, it is still part of us.

Above all however, this is decentralisation turned on its head. What is being done is completely wrong. There is a Minister with responsibility for the west, namely, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. What is that Department doing? All Members present have at some point fought for a small school, hospital, industry or whatever in their localities because they know that such facilities are the building blocks of a community. Anything that is removed from such a community ultimately causes suffering for all. Members do not wish to see such developments happening. This is a bigger issue that pertains to regionalisation, decentralisation and saving the west. It resembles the thinking underlying the opening of the Atlantic highway from Derry to Limerick and beyond and is similar to opening the western rail corridor. It pertains to those issues and forms part and parcel of an interdependency of infrastructures and community in those areas.

This development is happening before Members' eyes. Last year, half of the Members of the Oireachtas more or less mentally cheered when the salmon fisheries were closed. While I know there were good reasons for decommissioning one third of the fishing fleet, if matters continue in this fashion there will be nothing left in the west. It will be like turning out the lights on rural Ireland. Every week another decision is made which takes more from that area. Members should be sufficiently brave and responsible to acknowledge that it will cost more to invest in the west of Ireland and that there is inequality of investment in such regional areas. What is happening in Malin and Valentia at present is a step backwards and I ask the Government to withdraw its position in this regard.