Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, to the House. I also welcome the Action Plan for Rural Development.

I live on the outskirts of Limerick city in Castletroy which has a large number of rural villages around it such as Castleconnell, Cappamore, Murroe and Caherconlish. On the Clare side, there are villages such as Parteen and Ardnacrusha. In the main, these have all become commuter villages. They are rural in orientation but many of the people who live in them commute to jobs in Limerick city. I would like to see this element integrated into the Minister’s proposal. How do we get to a point where these satellite towns do not just become commuter housing estates but are maintained as vibrant areas?

I welcome the fact the Minister is introducing a pilot scheme to encourage residential occupancy in town and village centres. Many elderly people who live on their own in rural areas would now like to live in villages. Voluntary housing bodies are looking to build a small number of units in villages. As an aside, I must point out that the process by which they can apply for funding to the point where they can turn the sod for the beginning of a development is too bureaucratic and slow. It needs to be examined. Cappamore, a village in my area, has a fantastic community centre, library and pubs surviving against the grain. There is an immediate need to get voluntary housing schemes up and running for elderly people who would like to move into villages such as Cappamore. However, to qualify for voluntary housing, one needs to have a defined need under local authority guidelines. For a person living in a single farmhouse, there is a possibility he or she might not qualify as it would be deemed as a home. This needs to be examined.

A range of measures such as tax designation, a grant or a revised first-time buyer’s scheme, are needed to encourage occupancy in towns and villages. Central to that, we must support our rural schools and post offices. Unfortunately, during the recession the banks exploited the downturn to close rural bank branches. The post offices can pick up the slack in this regard. The credit union movement also deserves our support. Credit unions have come through a rough time. When I was a chartered accountant, I knew many small businesses which would have gone to the wall if they had not been supported by their credit union.

Broadband provision in Castleconnell, Cappamore, Murroe and Caherconlish is reasonably good but needs to be further enhanced. We have to look at giving exponential supports through IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise office, LEOs, for businesses in villages. There are many fantastic people in villages who want to make them thrive. This action plan is a defined support from the Government which shows we want to rejuvenate rural Ireland. Rural towns within a 15 mile radius of a city also need to be integrated into this plan.

I commend the Minister on this action plan.