John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to Seanad Éireann and as I said previously, I particularly welcome the fact that there is now a dedicated Minister for Rural and Community Development in Government, in recognition of the need to bridge the gap between the overcrowded eastern seaboard and the regions. If that problem did not exist, we would not need a separate Minister. Deputy Ring is well suited to the job in the sense that he knows the issues in rural Ireland. He has given us a welcome progress report today. The first item he referred to was the emphasis on increasing the distribution of jobs to the regions, and he mentioned a figure of 56,000 in that regard. At the end of the day, it is jobs that will bring people to the regions and keep them there. The Minister's role of rural-proofing Government policies is vital.

The Minister has started his work in a very positive manner but there are still many challenges ahead, as we all know. A recent example of such challenges, in the context of our planning laws, was seen with Apple's decision to pull out of a proposed project in Athenry. The previous Government also saw similar examples, and were it not for objections, the headquarters of the Minister's Department might now be in Charlestown or at Knock airport. The project in Athenry would have created 500 to 600 jobs at the construction stage.There needs to be a change of policy or legislation to fast-track projects like that which are badly needed. Five hundred jobs in the regions are worth 2,000 jobs in the capital city.

The IDA is doing a good job bringing in foreign direct investment. Enterprise Ireland is giving great support to Irish companies that are exporting. The local enterprise office, LEO, system that was introduced by the previous Government provides many one-stop-shop supports for smaller businesses. There are also certain other agencies such as the Western Development Commission which was set up under the coalition Government led by the former Taoiseach, John Bruton, in the 1990s and is headquartered in the town in which I live, Ballaghaderreen. Extra support is required for small businesses that do not export and are not funded by investment from abroad. While the LEOs are doing a good job the Western Development Commission could do more to back up Government policy to bring more jobs to the regions. It has done a tremendous job over the years in a small way by giving seed capital to companies and by encouraging people to relocate their headquarters to the west. The Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, met the board of the Western Development Commission earlier this week.

Senator Paul Daly spoke about the midlands. I have family living in Mullingar and Athlone and I can hardly get through the area with traffic. We are getting a different read on the situation. His perception is that the area is dying on its feet. I have always viewed Senator Paul Daly as a reasonable man and I stand to be corrected but I think the midlands are not doing as badly as he said.