Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I support the comments of my colleagues about this report. How could anyone oppose a genuine effort to promote and expand rural Ireland? However, we must concede that we have heard it all before. This might be a newly-commissioned report but all these suggestions have been made down the years but sadly, most have not been acted upon.

I will dwell on the broad aspects of how we might regenerate, renew and rebuild rural Ireland. I will reflect upon the word "rebuild". There is a national housing crisis which is almost beyond description in the capital city of Dublin and in most of our large urban areas. However, across the length and breadth of our rural communities there are half-built houses, abandoned houses, derelict sites and unused planning permissions. It is very disappointing that we have yet to put in place a comprehensive national housing structure to marry some of those problems into a singular solution. Rural resettlement programmes have worked quite well but it is not fair to expect that 50,000 or 60,000 Dublin people on the housing list will all want to move to Cork or Kilkenny or to Waterford or Leitrim. However, hundreds of families would be interested in such a move. This is a matter for the Minister of State with responsibility for housing but also for the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, who has responsibility for rural development.

If we can rebuild our rural communities with people then trade, commerce and job opportunities can follow. The housing aspect must be reflected upon. Did anyone think ten or 15 years ago that we would now be in a position of driving around smaller rural Irish towns and villages where housing estates which are completed or partially built are on the verge of being knocked down? This is a tragedy which stemmed from Celtic tiger excess. Rather than allowing it to remain a tragedy we should try to see it as part of the solution by way of a more integrated national housing policy. This is not the brief of the Minister of State but she must be concerned about the population drift and expansion on the east coast which is a serious problem. I recall one of our former colleagues, Joe O'Toole, speaking on a few occasions about electoral laws and electoral provision and that the constitutional requirement of Oireachtas representation of one Deputy for 120,000 people should be amended to reflect that in some western counties the reduction in population and the reduction in the number of Dáil seats is providing a very unbalanced type of representation for those regions.

Agriculture has always been and will continue to be the most significant employer in rural Ireland. Colleagues referred to the revised and now almost entirely complete Common Agricultural Policy reform programme. I am on the record of the House as expressing disappointment that we did not use that opportunity to make a clear defined statement about the future of farming families and in particular, about the future of small farms and the families who live on them. We all welcome the annual investments from Europe of billions of euro into Irish agriculture. We must be deeply concerned at the continuing reduction in the number of farming families.

That stems directly from Government decisions and European decisions, and we are the authors of those decisions. It is not something we can blame others for. As part of the Common Agricultural Policy we need to decide what future we want for rural areas, including how many farming families should remain. We then need to introduce policies and supports to meet our aspirations in that regard. The report contains many very valid ideas. Securing agriculture is fine, but we also need to secure the number of farming families. That is crucial to the development of rural areas.

The housing issue including planning and other areas are worthy of substantive separate discussions. I wish the Minister of State well. Her role is interesting and the Government made a good decision in appointing a Minister of State to this area. She will have plenty to occupy her and I wish her well. I believe this report is a help but it is only one part of a much bigger picture.