Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House this afternoon. I very much welcome the post and the setting up of the Department of Rural and Community Development. There is a huge expectation around it. While the Minister has €220 million in his budget, I do not believe this is enough to make the changes that are needed in rural Ireland. I believe that amount will only tweak things at the edges. The first mistake made was the inclusion of 227 objectives in the plan. I would rather have seen five objectives. When one has a plan with 227 objectives and actions, it is very difficult to measure in a genuine way what is done - even percentage wise - and some of these objective may already have happened or be in process. People's expectations of the Department are huge.The Department, which was established almost six months ago, has not yet been successful in its key role of co-ordinating other Departments to put rural Ireland at the front and centre of all Government policy. I hope there will be a focus on this role so that people can see tangible results. Lottery funds and other bits of money here and there are valuable in themselves, but something very drastic needs to be done across all Departments to stop the decline of rural Ireland. I think all representatives will agree with that. We need to drastically change our approach to rural Ireland. I am worried that even though we have plan after plan, we are not yet seeing such a change on the ground. As a mother of two children, I want to see things happening in rural Ireland. No one is more keen than me to see things being done in a different way.

The first area I will focus on is the delivery of broadband, which would make a massive difference in rural Ireland. We have heard plenty of figures, expectations and announcements. Rural Ireland is suffering from announcement fatigue. We are told that broadband is being given to 100 houses a day or whatever. I need to know that when I get up in the morning, I will be able to send and download emails and do my business from Belmullet. At present, there is no day of the week on which I can get such a guarantee. It is constantly a question of whether I happen to be lucky on the day.

Like many other people, I cannot operate a business from there. The lack of reliable broadband is preventing the creation of hundreds of jobs that could be created in rural Ireland. People want to come back from England, America, Dublin and other parts of the country to set up in rural Ireland. There is no reason people in County Mayo should not be able to operate in a way that allows them to link in and do business with companies in Tokyo, London or anywhere else in the world. This would enable them to bring up their children in rural Ireland, send them to local schools and do everything else that is required. The Minister has acknowledged the importance of volunteering in local communities. All of those things are possible if people can get salaries, wages, incomes and careers in rural Ireland.

Huge opportunities are presented by the transatlantic cable and other things. Broadband is desperately and urgently needed. Every day we are without broadband and proper telecommunications, we are haemorrhaging jobs out of rural Ireland and stifling its growth. National growth is not sustainable without regional growth. The same point can be made about something as basic as mobile phone coverage. I am not even talking about areas like Belmullet; I am talking about estates in Castlebar where people have to go outside the door to make a phone call. For God's sake, we are in 2017. It is not good enough to have to go outside the door and start walking around one's car to make a basic phone call from a mobile phone. This issue needs to be addressed. I know this matter is not the Minister's direct area of responsibility, but it falls under the general category of rural affairs. If we cannot provide the basics, there is no point in giving money to golf clubs, etc.

I welcome the additional funding that has been provided for other infrastructure like roads under the local improvement scheme, LIS. I did not want €10 million to be taken from the Leader programme and put into the LIS. I thought it was wrong to do that, especially because it was announced as new funding. When things are announced, we often find that Peter is being robbed to pay Paul. That has to stop. There needs to be new investment in rural Ireland, just as there is in other parts of the country. LIS funding is impossible for people to understand. I know of people with dire illnesses and multiple medical conditions who have to use helicopter services to get to hospital. They cannot get out of their houses. Ambulances cannot get in. After this debate has finished, I will tell the Minister who they are. Medical staff cannot get into the houses of people who have paid property tax and every other tax under the sun. They do not have access because the roads have not been repaired.

Much better co-ordination between central and local government is needed. When we contact local authorities after great announcements have been made to ask whether certain roads can be done, the answer we receive is "No, that is not done, and this is here and this is there". Elected members of local authorities need to have a say in where this money goes. It should not be divvied out at the discretion of the chief executives of local authorities. We must stop eroding the powers of our elected representatives. There needs to be a direct line. When funding is announced, it should be clarified whether the money in question is new money or money that has been shifted from one place to another. The roads that are most in need should get done, and people with medical conditions should be given priority in that context.

I would like to speak about access to health in rural areas. There is no point in allocating little bits of money. In County Mayo alone, over 500 children with disabilities are waiting for the physiotherapy or occupational therapy they need. It is not right that parents, family members and children have to go through such delays. It is a rural issue because delays on the same scale are not happening in other areas. We have to consider these issues as rural issues. The accident and emergency department in Mayo General Hospital does not have the staffing levels required to meet the needs of seriously sick people with physical and mental health problems who come in the door. The staff who are working in the hospital at the moment are run off their feet. There is no point in putting in people who have just qualified. We need people with qualifications and experience. There are unacceptable waiting lists for treatment right across the board in rural Ireland.

I have much more I would like to say. I look forward to the Minister's return to the House with the review. Something drastic is needed to address the issues in rural Ireland. I want to be positive about rural Ireland. Like many others, I want to continue to live in rural Ireland. I want to see it grow and develop. We cannot continue with the two-tier growth that is evident at the moment. There is an unemployment rate of 21% in some rural areas. As the Minister will know, it reaches 35% in some parts of County Mayo. When I come in here every day, I listen to people saying we are in a full employment situation. Such lies need to be stopped. We need to face the truth and deal with these problems.