Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am impressed with the rural development programme for the coming six years. I am always fearful, however, when I learn that a committee has been established to address a problem because the first step such bodies take is to send a deputation to Dublin to have the problem solved on their behalf. I am anxious to ensure we do not attempt to do that in this case. Rather, we must tell people if they have a problem in their rural area that we here in Dublin will do our best to open the doors for them but that they must solve the problems themselves.

I grew up in the tourism business. My father started a holiday camp in Skerries when I was very young and my first job was as a shoeshine boy and so on. The whole objective of that Red Island holiday camp was that the guests paid on the day they arrived. When they paid, everything was included. It was an all-in holiday and the objective was not to take more money from the guests. I have some apprehension in this regard now, lest we have not learned this lesson well enough. The objective was to get the customers to come back again year after year. We need to instil that philosophy into people involved in the tourism business in particular so that people will want to come back year after year.

I was impressed by what Senator Ó Murchú had to say, when he spoke of the various things that happen within Ireland in the country, not the big cities. I recall my wife and I being in Clifden on one occasion and we were wondering what to do one evening. We were directed to the local hall where people were putting on their own show. What a joy it was compared with what we might otherwise have had. We were not looking for anything spectacular.

Again, last weekend, I was so impressed. We were down in Galway for the weekend and on Friday morning drove to Ballyvaughan, County Clare, to Monk's restaurant, which I do not mind mentioning. We were the only Irish people there and it was pouring rain. It was very wet and we had not come prepared for the Burren. People coming in were wearing jeans, wellingtons and so on, but ours were the only Irish voices we heard on a busy Saturday morning, 8 November, in terrible weather, not like today. Clearly there is an opportunity to do things. That particular restaurant seemed to be a Mecca for people. It is said that if one invents a new and better mousetrap, people will beat their way to it. They were certainly beating their way to that little town in west County Clare and to that restaurant. I believe it is possible. The House will recall the old seanfhocal, "Éist le fuaim na habhann, mar gheobhaidh tú breac", or listen to the sound of the river if you are going to catch a trout. I believe that is the opportunity we have in Ireland as regards tourism. Let us open the doors and remove the shackles, controls and regulations to give people the freedom to be creative for themselves.

Food is another area in which we can do something similar. We place too many shackles, regulations and controls on people. I think of the number of cheeses that did not exist 20 years ago, from my experience in the food business. There are many examples as well of very successful farmhouse products that have been introduced, but I had better not mention names in case I leave some out. However, the producers are very much hamstrung by regulations. I know we blame Europe for this and say it is a matter of food safety, etc. However, Ms Darina Allen, in County Cork, talks in particular of the need to ensure those entrepreneurs in the countryside are able to produce such products. With so many people now living in urban areas, there is something of a renewed interest in rural activities. I am not just referring to fishing, hiking, camping and boating. As well as renewed interest in small organic food production, there is also a need to preserve our rural heritage and ensure that with so many new developments, rural areas are not inversely harmed. Having said that, rural areas cannot be viewed as stagnant museum pieces and the rural development programme goes a long way towards helping to develop these areas in a constructive way. I welcome the provision of these grants.

One part of the programme that is especially welcome is the funding given to entrepreneurial farm families seeking to diversify into new areas. Entrepreneurship is a really effective part of the rural development programme and, considering that Ireland imports 70% of its organic requirements, that is a real challenge to us. Providing funding for diversification gives farmers a chance to convert to organic and helps to meet the overall target of converting 5% of the total agricultural area to organic production by 2012. I am not a great believer that organic will be of interest to much more than a certain sector, but this is a sector that can well pay for itself because those who buy organic generally do not have price high on the agenda.

I am concerned, however, with the specifics of the plan. I hope the rural development programme will create jobs at a time when many have been lost, for instance in the sugar beet industry in County Wexford. However, has a specific calculation been done as to how many jobs will be created per million euro spent? In addition, has it been estimated what the precise economic benefit will be for the communities in which the money is actually spent? Those working in the construction industry, in particular, have been very hard hit and there is a great need to strive to provide employment for them. I would like to know whether an estimate has been made of how many construction workers will be employed as part of this phase of the rural development programme. Instead of welcoming unquestioningly the funding provided by the rural development programme, I believe these are legitimate questions that need to be asked in order that the funds are distributed wisely.

I support what the Minister is doing, and the enthusiasm we are showing here. I support the concept that we are not doing things for others, but rather opening the door to provide the freedom for individuals to do it themselves. I am confident the people of rural Ireland will grab hold of that opportunity.