Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Several times a week I get into my car to drive from Athlone to Dublin and I cannot help but notice how the volume of traffic grows as I pass every exit. Even more striking is the fact that most of the traffic is going in one direction. We should be bringing jobs to the people rather than people to the jobs.Leaving aside de Valera’s vision of comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, the true pioneers of rural development include John Healy, formerly of The Irish Times, and one of my political heroes, John Hume. John Healy has sadly left us and John Hume has retired from active politics, but the need to focus clearly on the development of rural Ireland is no less now than it was in their day. Figures from EUROSTAT show that Ireland has one of the highest shares of people living in rural areas of almost any EU country. Our own census shows that the population of the country is growing significantly.

However, when one digs further into the statistics, there is no doubt that there is a migration from rural to urban areas. Between 2011 and 2016, for example, the population of Longford-Westmeath fell by over 1,300. That is why I welcomed the launch of the Action Plan for Rural Ireland Development in the constituency of Longford-Westmeath by the Minister and the Taoiseach. I thank the Minister for this as it is an area close to my heart.

This plan, unlike some others before it, sets out specific actions which will have measurable benefits to those living in rural areas. It is not, for example, like Fianna Fáil’s decentralisation plan, a political stroke worked out on the back of a cigarette packet to get maximum headlines and to fool the electorate. This action plan can and will be measured. When the Fine Gael-led Government launched its Action Plan for Jobs in 2011, the Opposition heaped scorn and commentators said it could never be done. Six years later, the targets have been smashed and the unemployment rate has more than halved. Long-term unemployment, youth unemployment and general unemployment have been reduced significantly. While the progress has confounded the naysayers, there is still a way to go. The focus for the coming years must be on building up the towns and villages of the midlands particularly, as well as those along the Atlantic seaboard.

The Action Plan for Rural Development takes a similar systematic approach. It outlines, for example, investment in 600 towns and villages, a 12% increase in tourist numbers and the creation of 135,000 jobs outside of Dublin. These are real measurable initiatives which will improve the lives of people living in rural Ireland. I am not suggesting we should be blindly optimistic and ignore any of the problems that exist. However, we need to be positive and constructive in our approach to rural Ireland.

Rural development is a key means of achieving equality, of making social change and of improving the lives of those men and women who want to live in their own areas. I see this plan as a welcome step on that road. It is an approach where the Government and communities work together for a brighter future and which will yield results.