Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisín Quinn, to the Chamber. I wish to put on record how much I enjoyed my most recent visit to the Mansion House, when the Lord Mayor launched a book written by our colleague, Senator Whelan, entitled The Buddha of Ballyhuppahaun. A most enjoyable evening was had with the Lord Mayor on that occasion.
I welcome the publication last Monday of the report on the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas, CEDRA. The commission was headed by former football great, Pat Spillane, and held 100 meetings across rural Ireland. The commission also met Oireachtas Members a number of times and I was privileged to be part of that process. The fact that this report was commissioned jointly by the Departments of the Environment, Community and Local Government and Agriculture, Food and the Marine is testament to the interest the Government has in tackling the difficulties of rural Ireland. It is a comprehensive and insightful report that has 34 recommendations on how to create employment and to revitalise rural Ireland.
I have outlined in this Chamber many times the problems faced by rural Ireland and how the brunt of the economic crisis fell on it. This has been highlighted in the report, which provides the grim statistic that unemployment in rural Ireland is at 192% of the 2008 figure, compared with an equivalent percentage of 108% for urban Ireland. Moreover, the Teagasc rural index report published last week also brought this issue to the fore. An opportunity has arisen for the Government to move on this issue. I welcome the comments of the Taoiseach at the publication of the report last Monday when he stated the Government will address this issue shortly.
Earlier this morning, I attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, which was addressed by Mr. John McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. He indicated clearly that steps would be taken in the roll-out of the next Leader programme to incorporate part of the CEDRA report and to bring forward recommendations and actions to tackle this problem in rural Ireland. In view of the short time available to me today, I request the Leader to ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, who has direct responsibility for this area, to come into this House after Easter for a full debate on this important report that was published earlier this week in order that Members can have an input into how this problem in rural Ireland is tackled.