Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá eolas tábhachtach foilsithe inniu ag an eagraíocht Pobal maidir leis na ceantair ar fud na tíre atá faoi mhíbhuntáiste. Úsáidtear an t-eolas seo, a chuireann Trutz Haase agus Jonathan Pratschke le chéile, go minic nuair ata maoiniú á sholáthar do chláracha Stáit. Tá sé tábhachtach go dtabharfadh muid aird air. I am speaking about the Pobal HP deprivation index for small areas produced by Haase and Pratschke and published today, which Departments use as the benchmark for where funding is to be delivered. For example, it is used in regard to the allocation of funding for DEIS schools and in regard to funding under the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP. It is an important tool. What is most worrying is that areas previously identified by it as the most deprived remain the most deprived. I have had a cursory look at the maps. The areas most deprived appear to be in the peripheral regions of Donegal, Mayo, Galway and south Kerry, which has been traditionally the case since the commencement of the gathering of these data. This raises questions as to the effectiveness of the local community development programme, LCDP and SICAP. There have been massive cuts to the funding available for the programmes under Pobal that seek to address to these issues.

According to the press commentary on the report today, Dublin has disproportionately benefitted from the upturn in the economy and small rural towns were the most affected by the recession and the years following it. One could take from it that the small towns, which are defined as having a population of between 1,000 and 5,000 people, were worst hit by the recession and benefitted less from the recovery than did the most urban and rural areas. This quantifies the point regularly made here that the financial crisis we experienced seriously affected rural towns and rural areas. The authors of the index state in their findings that there are rings of affluence around built-up urban areas, particularly around the greater Dublin region and these were less affected by the economic crisis and austerity than the more disadvantaged areas of the city and the more isolated rural areas. This is something we often say anecdotally here has happened and these statistics back up that case. In that regard, it is important that the Minister for Rural and Community and Development, Deputy Ring, should come to the House to discuss that report and its statistics, as well as broader rural issues.

I also want to raise an issue that has been highlighted in the Dáil by Sinn Féin's spokesperson for social protection, Deputy Brady. The Government has now admitted that 42,278 pensioners nationally, as opposed to 35,000, as previously stated, have been affected by the rate band changes introduced by Fine Gael and the Labour Party from September 2012. Of these 42,278 people, 26,598 are female and 15,680 are male. The figures we have now obtained from the Department show that a much greater number of people are affected than was previously stated. I note that in counties Galway and Mayo, 2,116 and 1,340 people, respectively, are affected. It is worrying that at no stage in all the discussions on this issue has the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, disclosed the actual number of people affected by the 2012 changes despite these figures being available in her Department. I am told that the Social Welfare Bill is to be discussed at Cabinet next week. We need to hear from the Minister, Deputy Doherty, if it is proposed to rectify this blatant discrimination in the Social Welfare Bill. We have heard lots of rumblings from different people in these Houses around this issue. It is important that Fianna Fáil would put pressure on Fine Gael and the Minister, Deputy Doherty, to address this issue because these 42,278 pensioners are waiting for a resolution. It is not acceptable that we would be misled in these Houses.