Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his new appointment. As a rural man like the Minister, I am aware of the need for immediate action in rural Ireland. It is, to coin a phrase, dying on its feet and has been for some time. Fianna Fáil supports the main principles of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2017, which establishes the new Department of Rural and Community Development. However, we believe that it makes for better policy coherence to have rural and Gaeltacht development policy centred in one Department. That is why we submitted amendments on Committee Stage in the Dáil last night to include the Gaeltacht in this portfolio. I had to watch the debate last night to find out whether those amendments had been accepted.

For a portfolio and an area of representation that is so important for those outside the M50, the Bill smacks of being rushed through. I appreciate why the Minister wants to establish the Department, which we are doing today. We are setting up a Department and we are not aware of, or we do not know, its real functions. We do not know what budget will be associated with the Department. We do not know what role the Minister will have in the Gaeltacht, regional affairs and the islands. Has the Minister responsibility for broadband, which is a major issue in rural Ireland? Will he have responsibility for the rural social schemes, the Tús scheme, farm assist, etc.? As was said in the Dáil last night, we are buying a pig in a bag here. It is imperative that as soon as the Minister's role is sanctioned and he finds out what his portfolio is definitively and what budgets will be at his disposal, he would come back here at his earliest convenience because, as many representatives here are from rural areas, we need a full and frank debate on the Minister's role in the future.

Fianna Fáil set up a senior Ministry for community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs having responsibility for the Gaeltacht and islands. Unfortunately, the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government in 2011 abolished the Department and only after pressure, assigned a junior Minister to rural affairs.

The new Taoiseach has decided to break up the rural Department set up in 2016 by splitting rural development from the Gaeltacht and the islands and by putting these portfolios into two different Departments. This shows is poor judgment and illustrates the knowledge deficit of the new Taoiseach towards rural Ireland. Once more, it shows that Fine Gael just does not understand the policy challenges facing rural parishes countrywide and continues to favour development in fewer locations.

With the greatest respect to the Minister, the Government's Action Plan for Rural Development is but another false dawn for rural Ireland and rehashes existing announcements, programmes and employment forecasts. There is little substance in this document that will immediately improve service provision, infrastructure and employment opportunities in rural Ireland. The ultimate litmus test will be what additional new funding, if any, will be ring-fenced for this plan.It is the fourth rural development plan in 33 months produced by Fine Gael, following the CEDRA report, the rural charter and the programme for Government. Clearly, there has been a systemic rural policy failure on its part. There is no long-term vision and planning as the depopulation of rural parishes escalates. As a rural person, I hate to say rural Ireland is dying on its feet. Shockingly, over 500,000 rural households and businesses must wait until 2024 for State intervention to have moderate speed broadband. As the plan was first launched in 2012, it spans a period of 12 years. The ultimate test will be how much additional funding will be ring-fenced for the current plan.

Fianna Fáil is committed to building an Ireland for all where the fruits of recovery will be felt throughout the country, with greater regional balance. In the confidence and supply arrangement to facilitate a minority Government it extracted policy commitments for rural Ireland to be implemented during the Government's term. We have seen successful partial delivery of some of these commitments, including the re-establishment of the CLÁR programme, expansion of the rural social scheme and the reversal of the 20121-13 farm assist scheme cuts, but much more needs to be done. It is appalling that only €6 million of the €250 million allocated to the Leader programme in the period 2014 to 2020 has been spent in the first three and a half years. It is also disappointing that the newly appointed Minister for Rural and Community Affairs, Deputy Michael Ring, has refused to allocate money under the programme for the repair of non-county access roads.

The Minister and I could be here all day rehashing the problems in rural Ireland, of which we are both well aware. I noted with interest that he did not mention Brexit or the challenges it would pose in his new portfolio, in particular for Border regions. There is the decimation of many areas through the closure of post offices and Garda barracks, two cornerstones of communities. I will not go into all of the existing problems, but I will mention Brexit as it is a major problem coming down the line. I am disappointed that the Minister did not refer to it. The agriculture sector is a cornerstone of rural Ireland and will be hit the hardest by Brexit, particularly along the Border that runs all of the way from County Louth to the tip of County Donegal. It has been left in a very precarious position with Brexit looming. Brexit should, therefore, form a major part of the Minister's brief. He has inherited the problems in rural Ireland and will inherit others down the line. I wish him the very best of luck and look forward to working with him. He is a man whose heart and soul are in rural Ireland. I see the need for a Minister dedicated to dealing with rural affairs. I am disappointed, therefore, that we are rubber stamping a title because we have no idea how much funding will be allocated to the Department or of what the Minister's portfolio, duties and role will consist.