Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

There is the county and the province but consistently in our planning we ignore that hierarchy as if it did not exist. When the Taoiseach went home to Offaly last weekend the people got two messages — first, that Offaly was very important and, second, that he had to go to Clara. The end had to be Clara. It could not be Tullamore. The county town might be a fine place and he might live there but it did not matter. It had to be Clara because it is the town from which he comes. We must ensure we continue to allow those two hierarchies to live in an uneasy equilibrium but we must not ignore the second hierarchy.

Drawing together the main strands of the clear and rational rural policy objectives and the binding ties of rural Ireland, my main point is that if we want to develop life in rural Ireland, we need people there and if we need people they will need houses, jobs, facilities and a social life. A large number of rural areas are now in a period of rapid growth but these are mainly the so-called peri-urban areas within 30 or 40 miles of the major cities and towns. The population in the rural areas outside the influence of major cities and towns remains stagnant and, in many cases, is in decline. I am willing to admit that until that is reversed and the most rural of our areas are stabilised, we will not have achieved our policy goals.