Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire. Tá cuid mhaith moltaí anseo agus caithfimid tacú leo. Is maith ann iad agus is maith iad a fheiceáil in aon doiciméad amháin.There are lots of initiatives here which we all support and it is good to see them all in one document. There is a sense of déjà vuwith much of it, though. The actions that are noted here are a gathering of actions across Departments and organisations which are happening anyway, so additionality is an issue. I say that with particular reference to the section on the Gaeltacht areas, with which I would be particularly familiar. I have raised issues around the Leader programme with the Minister previously. Leader has been an unmitigated disaster in County Galway, for example, and there is still a huge issue concerning the islands which must be addressed.

There is much discussion on the role of Údarás na Gaeltachta, which I welcome. However, the resources are not being put in place to deliver on this plan. An Indecon report was published a number of years ago which said that Údarás na Gaeltachta needed €12 million per year in its capital budget to retain the level of employment that is there at the moment. Such funding was needed not to add any extra jobs, but to deal with the net scenario. The capital budget for Údarás was cut to the bone by Fianna Fáil, from €26 million down to €5 million at one stage. It has gone up now to somewhere between €6 million and €7 million but it is still far short of the €12 million that is required just to keep things ticking over, not to mind creating an extra 1,200 jobs in the Gaeltacht areas. The reality on the ground and what is in the plan do not match up when it comes to resources and that would be one of my main concerns.

The issue of health services is massive in rural areas. I welcome the fact that there will be 18 new primary care centres but I would like to find out where they will be located. The other issue is that we already have primary care centres that do not have the staff that are needed. We have never had a fully staffed primary care centre in south Connemara. There is no physiotherapist in all of south Connemara and there is no social worker available to people aged between 18 and 65 in the whole of county Galway. We need to hear how the Departments of Health and Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs are going to ensure that those new primary care centres are fully staffed. There is also a big issue with ageing GPs in rural areas, of which I am sure the Minister is aware. There are three GPs in my own area who are due to retire in the next 18 months. They are saying that it is going to be really difficult to find replacements because the younger GPs do not want to go to rural areas. Again, that is an issue that must be addressed.

The issue of ambulances in rural areas was also mentioned earlier. There are massive areas of rural Ireland that do not have adequate ambulance cover and that must be addressed. The centralisation of services in places like Galway city under hospital groups like the Saolta University Health Care Group, is very detrimental to rural areas. The fact that people have to travel from Donegal to Galway to get chemotherapy and other services is totally outrageous. We need a rebalancing within the acute hospital system to make sure that such services are provided closer to the people. We also need more investment in primary care services. Addiction services in rural areas are virtually non-existent. Again, we have seen huge cutbacks in addiction services in the west in particular. Another area worth mentioning is that of domestic violence supports. The funding for such social supports in rural areas, which are very important, has been cut savagely in recent years.

I note that there is mention of community employment, CE, schemes, Tús, JobPath and so forth and the Intreo offices. However, the reality is that Intreo offices have been closed down in rural areas where they were previously available. There was an office in Carraroe in south Connemara but services were centralised. Now people in that area have to travel into Galway city to avail of the services of the Intreo office. That goes totally against what the Minister has said she wants to achieve in the strategy and it must be addressed by the Minister for Social Protection. If it is intended to provide such services in rural areas, then staff must be located in those areas.

On child care, it is obviously very difficult to keep community child care facilities open in rural areas. There are also issues with the levels of pay in that sector. Many people are finding it hard to staff child care centres because it is more attractive for people to work as SNAs in schools and so forth, where the workload is not as heavy and the pay is better. Transport is a massive issue. The rural transport programme has been successful but it needs more money. We need to address the issue of connectivity and we need greater investment in our roads infrastructure. We must also overcome issues around designation which have hampered the likes of the N59 in Connemara and the R336 in south Connemara. The western rail corridor must be taken on board.