Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

Tá lúcháir orm go bhfuil an tAire Gnóthaí Pobail, Tuaithe agus Gaeltachta anseo linn chun plé a dhéanamh ar fhorbairt na tuaithe. Tá a lán oibre déanta san iarthar le roinnt blianta anuas chun ceantair iargúlta na tíre a fhorbairt go dtí caighdéan atá inghlactha in áiteanna eile sa tír seo agus ar fud an domhain. Tá go leor den obair sin, go háirithe an obair atá déanta ó 2002, déanta ag an Aire, an Teachta Ó Cuív. Is cuimhin liom nuair a d'fhógair sé an scéim CLÁR sa bhliain 2001-02. Cé gur chuir mórán daoine fáilte roimh an scéim CLÁR, bhí ceisteanna ag go leor dóibh maidir le oibriú na scéime. Ní raibh siad cinnte go mbeadh buntáiste leis an scéim, nó go mbeadh go leor airgid curtha ar fáil. Is fíor a rá go bhfuil CLÁR ag oibriú go hiontach agus go bhfuil buntáiste mór curtha ar fáil ag an scéim don iarthar, go mórmhór na ceantair iargúlta cosúil le iarthar Dhún na nGall. Ní hamháin go bhfuil an scéim ar fáil sna ceantair a leagadh amach i 2002, cuireadh méadú leis an limistéar a bhí faoi chúram an chláir sin ó shin. Dá bhrí sin, tá buntáistí na scéime ar fáil do go leor ceantair in Éirinn.

I wish to refer to a number of issues. I listened to Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú, and I share many of his views on rural Ireland and how it can be developed. Ireland was established on the basis of the baile feirme, the townland structure, which provides us with a unique geographical structure. I discussed this with officials from Donegal County Council recently and made the point about broadband being available on a universal basis in other EU countries such as Germany, Finland and Sweden, where broadband is readily available, but that it is forgotten that much of the population in those countries live in apartment blocks. It is easy to make broadband available in urban areas where 2,000, 3,000 or 4,000 people live in an apartment block, but it is much more difficult to obtain the same objective in a rural area.

I am proud to come from rural Ireland, a part of rural Donegal in the Gaeltacht. I pay tribute to the Minister for the work he has done in progressing rural Ireland. I entered politics in 1999 and since then I have seen at first hand the work and commitment of this Minister to rural Ireland and Gaeltacht areas, and I salute him for that commitment and effort.

Over the last number of days there has been much discussion on the new Rural Development Programme 2007-2013. I met many people in my area in Donegal who have welcomed the programme, the structure, the €425 million, the co-operation from the EU, which Senator Buttimer noted in his opening remarks, and the recognition that rural Ireland is important not only to Ireland but also the European Community. We should acknowledge the input from the European unit in making funding available. There is an increased level of funding over the next six or seven years, the percentage of the funding available to community groups has been increased and funding is also being made available for core things important to people in rural communities, such as diversification into non-agricultural activities for part-time small farmers who want to diversify, the creation of new business ideas, the development of existing businesses and the encouragement of tourism activities.

There are opportunities available to rural Ireland and the Gaeltacht areas in developing tourism products from the natural resources available to us. Nuair a bhí clinicí ar siúl agam i mo dáilcheantar fhéin le linn na deireadh seachtaine, bhuail mé le grúpa mná tí. I had constituency clinics during the weekend and one group who came in was a group of mná tí, and the Minister will recognise their importance to rural Ireland as he has been to the forefront of developing Irish colleges over the past ten years. They were looking to develop walkways in their own area, and developing a tourism product working with the Donegal county walking officer. They had already developed four routes, and were not looking for money. They were looking for help to develop routes themselves, and the men would help out with the work. It will extend the tourism season to allow people come to the Gaeltacht, participate in walking and learn the Irish language while staying with a bean an tí. It is a wonderful idea which has potential, and I ask the Minister to consider it as part of this programme, because while the bean an tí has a seasonal responsibility during June, July and August, we could widen that, develop the language and bring tourists into the Gaeltacht region.

The new programme will have significant benefits. It will strengthen our communities, the backbone of rural Ireland, and build on the work done, especially in the CLÁR programme which has reversed depopulation and fulfilled the objectives laid out in 2001 and 2002, which I welcome. Rural Ireland can grow in the knowledge that there is a future for us all. Third level education is now available in many parts of the west and rural Ireland, and we welcome that and acknowledge the work that has been done. The CLÁR programme brought about the confidence for people to be willing to stay at home because the Government took an interest in rural Ireland and the focus was on not on west to east, but east to west since the programme was launched by the Minister. The Government must be applauded for that.