Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire. Tá mé thar a bheith buíoch dó as teacht isteach ar an gceist seo. I am very grateful the Minister is present. The reason I raise the issue is that, anecdotally, we all sense that employment in rural areas has been particularly affected in recent years. There is a certain sense that the employment rate nationally and even in the regions is improving but figures in the quarterly national household survey, QNHS, recently revealed the real picture, namely, a decrease in the labour force in various regions, in particular more rural ones. For example, in the midlands region from quarter 1 of 2012 to the end of last year there was a decrease from 129,000 to 128,600. In the west the decrease was from 211,200 to 204,800. In the mid-east the decrease was from 262,000 to 254,000. That gives an indication that the labour force in rural areas is decreasing. One must also consider that the figures for the west include statistics for Galway city where there have been certain successes in terms of employment. However, as someone who speaks on rural issues regularly I am aware that rural areas find it difficult to maintain population levels.
My question for the Minister relates to the agencies under the remit of his Department and the specific targets they have to create employment in rural areas. We had an interesting debate about Forfás, the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. Certain successes are evident in the figures we discussed. The IDA's target for creating more than 50% of jobs outside of Cork and Dublin was not met. It has been difficult to create jobs even in bigger towns around the country. How does the Government plan to rejuvenate rural areas, create employment there and keep people living in rural communities?
Údarás na Gaeltachta does not come specifically under the Minister’s remit but it is a Gaeltacht-based development agency. It is having particular difficulties because its funding has been reduced from €28 million in 2008 to €5.6 million. It is trying to create employment in Gaeltacht areas. Certain protocols are in place with the Department to the effect that if Údarás comes across a project or develops one which might be based in a Gaeltacht, capital funding will be provided. There have been a number of successes in that regard. The Mylan project was announced recently. Notwithstanding that, my understanding is that Údarás na Gaeltachta does have a number of shovel-ready projects where the groundwork has been done and employment could be created but the next step is required.
The Minister mentioned in the previous debate that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has allowed Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to take on extra staff at the coalface but the Údarás has not been given similar powers. Notwithstanding the difficulties experienced by Údarás na Gaeltachta, the most telling example I could give – Senator Keane could relate to it – of the success or otherwise of Údarás vis-à-visother rural areas is Connemara. Even with its faults Údarás na Gaeltachta has done a very good job of creating employment in rural areas in south Connemara but as soon as one goes to north Connemara it is barren from the point of view of industrial development. If it were not for tourism there would be very little there.
We need a rethink in how we approach job creation in rural areas. I look forward to hearing exactly what targets each of the agencies under the Minister’s remit have and what the Government’s strategy is to ensure rural areas get the jobs they need.