Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I do not question the integrity of planners, but I question a certain mindset that is evident. I spoke to every county manager in the country on the matter. In fairness they all turned up. I said to them that there is no point in the State investing €425 million in rural development, which means that we will have to build structures, and then find that no matter how sensible, cogent or good for a community it is, one cannot get planning to go ahead with an enterprise. When I travel around rural Ireland I see some of the major dairy industries located in Ballyragget, in Kilkenny, or in Listowel, marvellous places which were built 30 or 40 years ago. If they wanted to build them today, I know where they would be told to go.

The other problem is that planners and the professional people often only see a hierarchy of cities, towns, gateways and hubs and they use that most obnoxious phrase, the rural hinterland. The national spatial strategy is committed to rural communities. When we talk about rural communities we mean towns of 1,500 or less and the rural countryside. We are not talking about regional balance in terms of Galway, Cork and Limerick. We are talking about rural development.

I did not understand this growing up because I come from Dublin and was ignorant of the countryside in many ways but it was only when I went to live in rural Ireland that I realised a different geography operated that only those who live there fully understand, that of the townland. If one organises a canvass, the stations or many of the other activities that take place in rural communities, they are always divided up by townlands. I know to the last house what is in each townland in my area. I have learned all of that in my time.

When I was getting married my wife said to me, "Caithfimid cuireadh a thabhairt go muintir Baile-Lugh". She comes from Spiddal but fortunately for me she only meant the townland. We live on the edge of County Galway. Next Sunday or any other Sunday we are Galway, not Mayo, even though I can look out my window and see Mayo. The townland is real and it means a great deal to people. It is very much an organisational structure. It has the parish, and I need not tell anybody here that people would——