Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

It makes some points which I do not agree with but it is important that collectively we look at all aspects of the challenges we are faced with and that Government then gives leadership on the delivery of our policy objectives. It has become common in our society to play the blame game and to expect somebody else to solve every problem. Governments must lead and we are both energised and committed to doing everything we can to safeguard our prosperity, even when it means making tough and sometimes unpopular decisions. We can only solve the problems, however, if the people are motivated and encouraged to become part of the solution. The next phase of our development will come from within ourselves.

At present, it is impossible to open a newspaper or turn on the news without hearing about the national and global economic situation. As everybody knows, we will face great challenges in overcoming the present global economic crisis. From my experience of running businesses, I know it is no easy thing to continue to trade from week to week or month to month in tough economic times. As somebody who worked in business and enterprise, I have also learned that it is important not to dismiss any opportunity available to us. Sometimes when the challenge is greatest, it drives one to look at those opportunities that might have been overlooked in the past. We have to encourage people to look around them for new opportunities, to identify potential areas of enterprise and to be innovative.

In terms of developing the west, I trust we can all agree on the fundamental point that the western region is intrinsically a good place to live. In any initiative to develop the west we never fall short of that measurement of quality of life. We should not be complacent about the challenges facing rural and western Ireland, but I know from my work in the most disadvantaged communities in the State — all 46 of them are urban communities — that the day-to-day challenges they face are far more extreme and pronounced than any disadvantage in rural Ireland. There is no deprivation in rural Ireland on a community level like that faced by those in urban areas and statistics from sociologists bear me out on this issue. As part of the RAPID programme, a remapping process was carried out on this basis and the results are solidly the same.

The quality of life the west offers is a key strength of the region and is a strength that must not be taken for granted. Time and again I have seen people who on the one hand are looking for industry to come to the west and on the other are painting a view of the west that is totally foreign to the west I live in and where there are a significant number of advantages. I often wonder how anybody could be expected to come this region if is as bad as people say it is. I know the challenges. I developed industry from the ground up when we did not even have telephones. The one thing I knew was that there were advantages to the region if we put our minds to it.

Some people regard quality of life as a so-called soft issue. However, all economic activity is, at its heart, about people. What people want, where they choose to live, work and spend their holidays all affect the economic well-being of the country. It is worth remembering that Leitrim, once faced with falling population and now with its high influx of artists and craftspeople, is currently the county with the highest share of its total employment in the creative sector. It had 11% intercensus growth. We, in the west, must harness the advantages we have and continue to make it attractive for people with drive and initiative to relocate there.

The joint Oireachtas committee report states that depopulation in rural areas is going untackled. It cites the population decline suffered by western counties between 1926 and 2002. I highlighted that first when I set up the CLÁR programme. This point reaffirms the rationale on which the Government's CLÁR programme was based. The Government set up the CLÁR programme precisely because population decline is a reason to develop and improve rural areas rather than to neglect them. However, the report does not point to the fact that every county in the west increased in population between 2002 and 2006 and that the Connacht-Ulster region grew faster than the national average during that time. Surprisingly, the province with the lowest population growth was Munster.

Bhunaigh muid CLÁR chun déileáil leis na míbhuntáistí sna ceantair tuaithe is iargúlta sa tír. Tá go leor obair déanta ag CLÁR mar shampla chun feabhas a chur ar na háiseanna atá ag scoileanna beaga tuaithe agus chun infreastruchtúr riachtanach cosúil le seirbhísí uisce agus séarachais, ionaid sláinte agus bóithre a chur ar fáil agus a uasghrádú. Is é ceann de na rudaí is fearr a rinne CLÁR do na gnóna beaga tuaithe, mar shampla, ná cabhrú leo chun an ceangailt leictreachais a uasghrádú go 3-phás dóibh agus tá an obair sin déanta ar fud na tuaithe.

I do not believe we can seriously deny the construction and development of new infrastructure that has taken place across the west ranging from new national roads and improvements to local and regional roads. Throughout the western region and throughout the islands and the Gaeltacht, in particular, much work has been done to address infrastructural deficits in terms of piers, harbours and local roads.

Tá an rialtas tiomanta don infheistíocht san infreastruchtúr faoin phlean forbartha náisiúnta cé go bhfuil níos mó brú orainn ó thaobh achmhainí de. Beidh an tógáil ar na mórbhealaigh idir-chathrach críochnaithe an bhliain seo chugainn, Gaillimh san áireamh. Beidh an iarnród idir Inis agus Baile Átha an Rí á ath-oscailt le linn na bliana seo. Tá plean ann chun é sin a shíneadh comh fada le Clár Chlainne Mhuiris. Is céim stairiúil chun chinn in fhorbairt an iarthair.

In a time of crisis, it can be difficult to see beyond today or this week but this Government's commitment to infrastructure derives from the fact the construction itself offers jobs for people in the short term and that in the long term, it will be the platform from which we catch the inevitable upturn in global economic fortunes. A time of crisis can also be the source of innovation and the very pressures that crises bring often force people to look at new opportunities. My heart goes out to all those people currently faced with losing their jobs and losing income. It is our task to create a positive energy out of the challenges facing us and to identify better ways of doing business and new ways to generate income.

The importance of exploiting opportunities for micro-enterprises and small enterprises based on natural local resources would seem to me one of the ways forward. This is particularly true now because of the high level of skill and education that our people have received. We must use our ingenuity. We have valuable untapped resources in this country. Instead of being negative and dwelling on what we do not have, we should focus on finding new ways of maximising the potential of what we do have.

It is extraordinary that, historically, the most overlooked natural resource is the ocean. Many people are unaware that Ireland has a larger sea area than land area. The joint Oireachtas committee report raises the issue of the decline of the sea fishing sector and although the same opportunities in that industry are no longer available to coastal communities, there are other marine-based opportunities for our coastal communities. We have already invested in small piers and harbours around the country but we have barely started to develop the enormous potential for marine leisure and recreation in terms of regional and local development and job creation, both in the marine leisure area and in ancillary services and spin-offs. Kilmore Quay in Wexford is a good, living example of this. I understand there are major developments taking place in Valencia harbour.

It is important to remember that no leisure industry or form of recreation exists in isolation. The area of marine leisure is a potential goldmine. Within the larger context of rural development and diversification, marine leisure offers us the opportunity to foster vibrant, sustainable, indigenous enterprise around the country. Marine leisure will both benefit from and support many other types of rural business. Artisan foods, accommodation, walking and recreational tourism are just a few examples.

Caithfidh mé a luadh gur sheol an rialtas an Clár Forbartha Tuaithe is mó riamh roinnt míonna ó shin. San iomlán idir infheistíocht ón Stát, ón Aontas Eorpach agus ón infheistíocht phríobháideach beidh beagnach €1billiún, nó €1,000 milliun, á chaitheamh ar an bhfiontar tuaithe agus ár aiseanna pobail suas go dtí 2013.

I recently launched the new rural development programme — €425 million of State and European funding. Coupled with local funding, we are unleashing an investment of more than €1 billion that should create 12,000 frontline jobs and many more supporting jobs. In recent years, I have become more and more convinced that marine leisure and rural recreation projects will play a key role in shaping the direction of rural and regional development in Ireland.

For some time, I have been working with my colleagues to see how we can unlock the potential for marine leisure from within existing resources, building on the valuable research done by the Marine Institute in this field. We know that at present, there are more than 5,100 jobs in the sector. If fully developed, would it be fanciful to believe that we could increase this by half again or even double it?

This year is significant in that we will see the Volvo ocean race, which is the Olympics of this type of racing, land in Galway for two weeks. This raises the profile of marine recreation, both nationally and internationally. It gives us an opportunity not only to showcase what we have to offer but also to open our eyes to the possibilities beyond that. It will help us see how we should build and develop our network of infrastructure in partnership with local communities.

Particular emphasis will be placed on the broader area of rural recreation under the new rural development programme. When we consider the continuing urbanisation of Europe and even of our own country, it is clear there are significant opportunities in rural recreation still untapped. We are lucky to have one of the most diverse and beautiful countrysides, relative to our size, of any country, with beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes and a general landscape that largely remains undeveloped in terms of the potential of rural recreation. There is an unparalleled opportunity to develop these assets through the rural recreation policy of my Department and through the Leader programme.

The measures we are taking in co-operation with local communities are being developed to facilitate agreed access to the countryside and the development of rural recreation. All this work is about improving the quality of rural recreation product available to market to overseas visitors and to attract our own communities to avail of the social and economic benefits of rural recreation.

This programme will have a particular focus on the opportunities of indigenous small-scale industry, particularly in the small food sector. Even in the present atmosphere of global economic restraint, the food sector continues to thrive. Today there are an estimated 320 businesses producing artisan and speciality food in Ireland. Together, our producers have a combined turnover of €450 million. That means €450 million in sales value to 320 small and speciality food producers throughout Ireland. Importantly, our sales are growing by at least 12% per annum, reflecting the growing market demand for artisan and speciality food. My Department will continue to provide support for artisan and speciality food production under the new rural development programme 2007-13. Among other things, this funding will support niche speciality food provision, farm shops and farmers' markets.

Decentralisation is playing a key part in the re-energising of many areas of the west. The Budget Statement outlined that we will have completed 6,000 out of 10,000 promised places by 2011. If we had announced 6,000 the first day, it would still have been the largest decentralisation programme ever. Perhaps we overshot somewhat but so be it. We were over-optimistic. Decentralisation is one of the great dynamic drivers in rural Ireland. I do not subscribe that we should have decentralised to the gateway towns because they were growing anyway.

The decentralisation of my Department is going full steam ahead. There are 100 civil servants in Tubbercurry. What is disconcerting is that senior spokespersons in the Opposition run down the decentralisation programme week in, week out. They do not inform themselves that all this decentralisation has taken place and the Departments are working so efficiently in the decentralised locations that people do not realise the move has taken place.

Ba mhaith liom pointe ar leith a dhéanamh maidir leis na hoileáin mhara. I must state my surprise at the view expressed by Senator Doherty in August of last year that the islands off the west coast were being neglected. It is ironic that the one island he visited during his fact-finding tour——