Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and his officials.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I move:

“That Seanad Éireann: acknowledges that: -

- rural communities are central to the social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of the State;

- family farms, fishing communities, small businesses, schools, childcare services, community organisations and voluntary groups are the foundation of rural life;

- many rural areas continue to experience population decline, reduced public services, inadequate transport links, limited access to healthcare, childcare and housing, and declining frontline Garda visibility;

- productive agricultural land is a strategic national asset that must be protected to safeguard food security, support family farms and sustain rural communities;

- the transition to renewable energy and the development of critical infrastructure must be carried out in a manner that respects local democracy, protects the environment and ensures meaningful community participation;

- rural Ireland requires fair access to affordable energy, reliable broadband, quality education, healthcare, childcare, policing and other essential public services in order to thrive;

notes with concern:

- the continuing pressure on productive farmland from competing land uses;

- ongoing uncertainty regarding updated national wind energy guidelines and the impact this has on communities affected by onshore wind development;

- the reduction in Garda station accessibility and frontline visibility in many rural areas;

- staffing shortages across childcare, healthcare and other essential services serving rural communities;

- rising costs facing households, farmers and small businesses, including energy, insurance and production costs;

calls on the Government to:

- publish and implement a comprehensive Rural Ireland Protection and Renewal Plan with clear targets, timelines and annual reporting to the Oireachtas;

- better protect productive agricultural land through strengthened planning policy and ensure that food security is recognised as a strategic national priority;

- guarantee that any designation of projects as critical infrastructure preserves planning independence and meaningful public consultation;

- immediately publish updated Wind Energy Development Guidelines, including clear provisions relating to setback distances, noise, shadow flicker, cumulative impacts and community protections;

- increase frontline Garda resources in rural areas, ensure adequate staffing of rural Garda stations and expand dedicated roads policing units across rural counties;

- accelerate investment in rural healthcare, home support services, childcare, schools, public transport, broadband and affordable housing;

- provide targeted supports for family farms, fishing communities and rural small businesses, including measures to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and improve economic viability;

- ensure that the transition to a low-carbon economy delivers tangible benefits for rural communities through local employment, community participation and fair distribution of investment; and

- report to Seanad Éireann within six months on the actions taken to implement the measures outlined in this Motion.”

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Senator Collins is sharing time with Senator Tully. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister. It is great to have him here. I know he too is passionate about rural Ireland, and it shows in the work he does. This motion is important to each of us because it touches on every walk of life, including healthcare and justice. It is about rural communities and farming. It is environmental. Being from a rural community in County Limerick, I thought it fitting to lay out what we see as lacking within our communities, or what has been brought to our attention if we have not seen it ourselves.

I start by saying that I will be rejecting and voting against the amendment that was put forward. The simple reason is that it suggests that the Government is brilliant in everything it does. It claims that the Government has done everything possible for rural Ireland, and it does not call on the Government to do anything, which I find kind of shocking. It means that no more needs to be done for rural Ireland. Motions always call on the Government to at least put something into it. I find it shocking. I stand here most weeks and bring up issues about rural Ireland, as do my colleagues on this side and Senators on the opposite side of this House. They bring up rural issues because a lot of them are from rural areas. It was only two weeks ago that Senator Boyle brought up issues with wastewater treatment in his rural area. Senator Kennelly brought up the loss of jobs going back to early last year between west Limerick and north Kerry and how it is affecting his rural community. I cannot understand why the entire motion would be wiped and amended to suggest that nothing needs to be done by the Government.

I will go through one or two things we would like to be implemented. We have been calling for a long time for the wind energy guidelines to be updated. I do not know about everybody in this House, but in County Limerick six wind farm developments have been proposed. Two have been going through planning with An Coimisiún Pleanála. There are huge issues with the fear of noise, the flicker, the health implications and what it is doing to rural villages across Limerick. A couple of houses will have 12 turbines within sight. They will be looking out each window to see turbines not that far away. I do not see why it is a big deal to ask for the guidelines that were due in 2009 to be released so that we can see if the new ones being proposed are up to standard and are the correct standard. We are looking for that to be released.

We want more gardaí for our rural communities. We often speak in here about how there might be two local gardaí in a Garda station and if an accident happens on the main road, the gardaí have to attend the accident and if something else happens, there is no garda there. The station is shut down. We have seen it across Ireland in our rural areas where a lot of Garda stations were closed or put on reduced hours. I have spoken to a lot of farming families who have the fear of theft on their farms and there are no gardaí around to come over when they ring. People illegally hunt or shoot on their land and they fear they will be overwhelmed. They cannot approach them because they fear that person will turn on them for objecting to them being on their land.

There are so many different aspects to this motion. On healthcare, we are always saying we need more home support. I do not see why that could not stay in it. On childcare, we are looking for extra availability and sustainable fees for our rural communities to ensure that parents can go back to work if and when they want to go back to work. The declining population in certain areas means we have the possibility of losing teachers and SNAs from schools in our rural communities.

I went to the IFA conference briefing today and asked what issues were high on their agenda for rural Ireland. There were two specific asks. One-off housing is so important for people to be able to build on their own land, especially if farming their land, and to be able to live there and not have to commute to and from work when it is their farm. The second one is about protecting agricultural land. I have said a few times that we need energy security, but we also need food security. The two should not be attacking each other. They need to work in tandem. Good agricultural land is being taken up for solar panels. Farmers are asking if they can put solar panels on their sheds. They are applying to a scheme and one in ten is getting approved, yet they all have to pay the fee to apply for it and they say they are not getting refunded the fee. We should not take up the agricultural land when we can put the panels off the ground.Wind farms are again taking over good agricultural land. We have lots of land in this country that cannot be used for agriculture. Put them there or put them offshore like we have been saying we want for years.

On the whole issue of one-off housing, if those young people cannot build on their own land or near where they grew up, they will move away. Eventually, the village will end up losing its pub because there is not anybody to go and have a pint. It will lose its shop because there is not somebody picking up groceries or getting diesel and petrol there. We will eventually erode our communities. I think our motion was quite balanced. We had a couple of asks, including increased gardaí and ensuring that our schools stay running. I do not understand why everything had to be taken out and the Government Senators do not call on the Government to do anything. It fathoms me.

Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)
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The motion that we have put forward is very broad and covers many aspects that affect us in rural life. I too am astounded by the amendment tabled by the Government because it does not call for anything, which gives the impression that everything that is needed is there, yet many colleagues across the room here ask for more gardaí in their local area, increased childcare, more supports for roads and transport and so on. I am amazed by it. I live in rural Ireland and grew up in it, on a small farm, where my parents were able to rear a family of ten without having to work off-farm. That is not possible any more.

We are facing a real crisis in farming, especially in family farming, if we do not deal with the age profile of our farmers. One third of our farmers are over 65 in this country and only 4.3% of them are under 35. We need a properly funded and robust succession scheme to ensure that the family farm can continue. We have a worldwide reputation for the production of good-quality food that is traceable from farm to fork. We will lose that if it becomes part of an intensive farm without our country.

We also need to incentivise younger farmers who want to farm but do not feel it is possible. There are some good schemes. The targeted agricultural modernisation schemes are good. They encourage people to farm in an efficient, environmentally friendly manner, but the money is not behind them at the moment. Out of ten farmers who get approval for the increased slurry scheme or solar scheme, only one is being given the grant, and the money is just not there. Farmers want to use solar. They want to put solar panels on their sheds or on their farm buildings, not over agricultural land but on farm buildings. They have to provide additional slurry. There are new regulations coming in by 2028. If we do not do that, we as a country will face fines of billions for not reaching our targets in reducing emissions by 2030. Why can we not just find the money somewhere? It is better to borrow it and invest in our young farmers or farming sector and ensure that we do not end up having to pay fines, which is dead money to me, when it could be invested in making sure that our farms are viable and we keep people working that family farm.

We pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe, possibly worldwide, and that is having a huge impact on households, businesses and our farms. We should be looking at investing in and putting in proper infrastructure for wind energy and our solar panels. I echo the call that we need updated wind energy development guidelines. We also need to work with communities. It should not just be a foreign company coming in here and providing the infrastructure then taking all the profits. We need to see investment by the State in community wind energy, working with communities, and offshore too, to ensure that we can provide our own energy, get away from using fossil fuel and away from our dependence on oil and gas that is coming in from other countries.

Many times here, I have raised the condition of the roads in Cavan. Cavan is a very rural county. It is a Border county. There is no rail service to Cavan, Monaghan or Donegal. We are a region without a rail service and we are dependent on our roads. We have public transport in the form of buses. There are sometimes problems with them but generally it is a good service. We are seeing an improving Local Link service all the time, with more and more routes being added, which is great and I welcome that. The national and regional roads are in generally reasonable condition but the rural roads are a disaster. I have called a number of times for the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to come in here and debate the funding that he gives to rural roads in Cavan, in particular, and how it compares with other counties relative to the size of the county, and he has not done that. I see the roads around me and they are disintegrating. The weather is not helping. We have very wet weather for some parts of the year, which we have witnessed already, and now we have extremely hot weather which is melting the tar. We will have to expect this type of weather for the next few years. We need to plan for that and we need to ensure that we invest in our roads and they are built to last through the different types of weather conditions that we have.

Regarding rural transport, I was talking to an older woman in Shercock on Saturday. She had an appointment in Monaghan hospital. She had no option but to get a taxi from Shercock to Monaghan hospital and back. It cost her €250. For an old age pensioner who is depending on her pension, she had barely enough to just buy a few groceries after that. We need to look at a better public transport system, especially looking after our older people in isolated communities. Even to support our rural pub, we need to look at some sort of incentive for a taxi service that is affordable for people, so we can maintain our rural pubs and look after our older people.

Regarding health, in my local village of Kilnaleck, there was always a GP service. We have lost it. There is another sizeable village in Cavan, Ballyhaise, which has a lovely health centre. A lovely health centre in Kilnaleck is idle, and there is no doctor or service in the one in Ballyhaise. The HSE is using it for administrative purposes. The people want to see a GP service in their local area. We need to see far more GPs in our communities. We need to have them in our rural communities too and not have people travel all the time. Sláintecare is being rolled out too slowly, so we need to see proper resourcing of community healthcare. It avoids people ending up in acute healthcare settings, which are overcrowded. I see a dangerous trend where many people are being referred from areas such as Cavan and Monaghan to Dublin for acute care. There is a lack of specialist services in the rural areas. We need to see our hospitals maintained in rural areas.

There is a lack of capacity in childcare services, which is causing a huge problem. There are about 40,000 children on a waiting list for childcare services. There was supposed to be investment in derelict buildings, of which we see many in our towns and villages, to repurpose them as community childcare facilities. I do not see any movement on that. That needs to be looked at and invested in. Community and voluntary services on the ground, which are vital for providing supports and services to many sectors of the community, including older people and younger people, are not seeing sufficient funding to help them to keep running, to recruit and retain staff within the youth sector, for example, to maintain buildings if they have them, and to pay rent if they have not. Transport is an issue that young people bring up with me all the time too. They cannot get to these youth services if they do not have sufficient transport.

The motion is wide-ranging. It raises many different issues. We want it to be addressed and kept on the agenda. We want to see a proper, updated policy put in place to ensure that rural communities remain vibrant. Rural Ireland is a good place to live but we need to make sure that it remains as such. I note that the north and western region of Ireland is ranked something like 218th out of 234 EU regions for transport infrastructure, which I already talked about. That is very concerning. There is a lack of investment and public funding, and we need to see far more investment in those areas. The M3, for example, comes from Dublin to the Cavan-Meath border and stops. We have a bottleneck at Virginia and have been waiting for a Virginia bypass for over 26 years. We will have to wait another few years if it happens this time. There are many issues in this motion. I am amazed that the Government is opposing it. It could have accepted it and added to it if necessary. I am amazed.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That Seanad Éireann:" and substitute the following:

“acknowledges that: - supporting rural Ireland is a top priority for Government;

- a whole of Government approach to rural development is in place under the umbrella of Our Rural Future; this approach has been strongly endorsed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in its recent review of Irish rural development policy;

- since its launch in 2021, Our Rural Future has delivered vital investment and supports to rural areas, strengthening local economies and improving the quality of life for people across rural Ireland;

- significant achievements across the lifetime of the Our Rural Future policy to date include:

- unprecedented growth in Government investment in rural areas under the Rural Development Investment Programme;

- improvements in digital connectivity through delivery of the National Broadband Plan;

- the delivery of the Connected Hubs Network of over 400 remote working hubs;

- continued improvements in essential services including community healthcare and public transport in rural areas;

- targeted supports for regional employment and enterprise growth delivered by Government in partnership with our enterprise agencies;

- the broadening of educational opportunities for rural dwellers through initiatives such as the establishment of four new Technological Universities;

- continued support for the central role of the agri-food sector as a key driver of our economic growth and our environmental ambition;

- progress on climate and environmental sustainability in rural areas, including via enhanced local opportunities in key areas such as retrofitting and renewable energy;

- implementation of the Rural Safety Plan and the rollout of Local Community Safety Partnerships;

notes that: - between 2016 and 2022 there was a 5.8 per cent increase in the number of people living in rural areas;

- a new iteration of Our Rural Future for the period 2026-2031 is currently being finalised;

- this new policy will continue the whole of Government approach, building on the progress and investment delivered to date and setting out a renewed vision for the years ahead;

- the new policy is firmly rooted in an extensive public consultation process that has ensured the voices of rural communities across the country are being taken account of;

- it will also ensure that rural Ireland continues to benefit from extensive and strategic investment; for example, there are more schemes available through the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht than ever before, with the highest ever budget allocation of €611 million in Budget 2026;

- importantly, the new policy will be underpinned by ambitious actions for delivery across Government with clear reporting in place in relation to progress;

- and rural Ireland remains a central plank in our national economic and social wellbeing, and support for rural Ireland remains a central priority across Government.”

It is a pleasure to speak on behalf of Fianna Fáil on this motion.It is important we take every opportunity we can to talk about rural Ireland and look at ways to strengthen rural Ireland and the people who live there, while protecting biodiversity and the land of which we are custodians.

I support the countermotion. Today, there are more people living and working in rural Ireland than at any other time in the history of the State. They can only do that with the supports the Government has put in place. One example is the roll-out of high-speed broadband nationwide. It got off to a rocky start, but it is now thankfully ahead of schedule. The increase in remote working means more people now have the opportunity to live close to where they grew up and in the communities which formed parts of them and to have that intergenerational aspect. That is hugely important. Some 400 remote working hubs were also put in place, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic, when we all had the realisation that some work - not all work - can be done remotely.

The local enterprise boards are doing an incredible job in rural areas. I am speaking from experience. A lot of people think Kildare is urban, but a lot of it is rural, particularly south Kildare, where I am from. The local enterprise office is second to none in helping to support rural enterprises. We have seen a lot more of them in recent years, particularly around the blueways and greenways. It is wonderful to see them and to see the support they are getting.

We need to recognise the distinct needs and opportunities of rural Ireland. Planning was mentioned and the draft planning statement that was introduced two weeks ago goes a long way towards that. No matter where any of us live, as public representatives we have no doubt seen situations where people could not build on their land and generations of families could not live beside their parents. That meant that perhaps parents could not help with children and as they got older, they could not have support. I hope that will be resolved in the new planning guidelines. They are just a draft at the moment and we have to go through the process. It was an incredible vote of investment in our rural future.

The Our Rural Future policy has supported rural Ireland in many ways, particularly in helping to develop community resilience. I was asked recently on a radio programme who lobbies for community centres. I am a firm believer in having strong community centres. My genuine answer was that community centres do not need a lobby group because the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has done so much in helping to support community centres - the next call will be for new ones - to modernise and add on. I have seen it in my local community centre in Rathangan and it is great. It is also about supporting GAA clubs and other sporting clubs, which we are certainly doing through sports capital grants, the next round of which will open at the end of this month. Our local authorities are also supporting local festivals through national funding a lot more than they used to.

The Minister is working on the new iteration of Our Rural Future for the period 2026 to 2031. The consultation process was important. In eight different areas, people had the opportunity to come physically. There was also an online process and a youth assembly process because the voices of young people are hugely important, as is encouraging them to live in their areas.

I agree with the comments on transport. Connectivity is hugely important. I am lucky to live in a place that has a good train service - it could always be improved - which makes a big difference, and the Local Link is generally working well. Again, there are a few gaps. I genuinely feel for those in rural areas who do not have connectivity. It is vital for every generation, such as an older person who cannot drive any more and needs to be able to go and get a prescription filled independently, without having to ask a family member. My family is going through that at the moment and I completely understand how difficult it is for people who have been independent all their lives to be dependent if no public transport is available. It is important for young people in opportunities for work and study and now, because there are issues with accommodation around universities, it is important they have the option to travel. That point was well made.

I was at the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, today. The ongoing negotiations on the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, are crucial to the IFA, particularly around the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and food security. The Senator is also correct in saying we need the guidelines on wind energy and solar farms. While we have to support renewables, there must be guidelines. I have raised this previously in relation to equestrian land. I have seen good stud farm land going to solar farms. We should have solar panels on all our farm buildings. They could be subsidised and supported.

Therefore, when we talk about Our Rural Future-----

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Go raibh maith agat.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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-----there are a lot of excellent initiatives. We can always do better and we always should.

Eileen Lynch (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for being here this evening. This is an important motion. It is vital to discuss rural Ireland and its continued and ongoing development. It deserves policies that recognise its value and invest in its future. I am from north-west Cork, which is quite rural. I see every day the strength of rural communities in Mallow, Millstreet, Macroom and the village I am from, Aghabullogue. There are many people who keep rural Ireland going, from community groups to farmers and school groups. They are the soul of rural Ireland and are breathing life into these villages.

I acknowledge the launch of the Our Rural Future policy in 2021. It brought real progress in the development of rural Ireland. It brought record investment into communities, with expanded broadband and the development of more than 400 connected hubs. It has improved Local Link services, supported regional enterprise and invested in community facilities across the country. I commend the Minister on the work he is doing on community facilities as well as previous Fine Gael Ministers in that Department, including former Deputies Heather Humphreys and Michael Ring. They did fantastic work. Another village near my home, Rylane, received €1.8 million. The Minister was there for the opening of our new community centre, which will make an invaluable difference to the community.

There is still work to do. We need to focus on access to housing, healthcare, childcare and transport because they are all challenges in many areas. However, I do not agree these challenges are being ignored. They are being addressed through a whole-of-government approach, rather than with piecemeal measures, and that is vital.

In north-west Cork, we have seen the benefits of this investment. The completion of the Macroom bypass has transformed travel on the N22. It has improved safety and made Macroom town a much better place to be. It has improved things for businesses and residents. The continued progress on the M20 from Cork to Limerick, albeit a little slow, will be equally important in improving connectivity across the region and supporting economic growth. I welcome the initial funding granted for the N22 Macroom to Ovens route. It needs to be treated with a level of urgency. I hope the pace of progress will not be as glacial as it was with the Macroom bypass.

There has been a lot of Government investment through the various schemes, including the town and village renewal scheme, CLÁR, the community centres investment fund, CCIF, and the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme. They have supported many projects across the country in smaller communities. Remote working has also created new opportunities for rural Ireland. Better broadband, although there is still work to do on it, and connected hubs allow people to work closer to home while supporting local businesses and reducing long commutes. Recently, we saw the former Coláiste Iosagáin building in Ballyvourney being repurposed as a fantastic development hub with hot desks and meeting rooms as well as office space. It is great that the building has been brought back into use and the services it now provides will be invaluable to Gaeltacht Mhúscraí.

My colleagues who have spoken have raised the matter of agriculture. This is very much at the heart of rural Ireland. Our farmers are central to our economy and to our communities and it is important that the Government continues to support family farms while helping the sector adapt to future challenges. I was at the IFA briefing today and there are challenges facing the agricultural industry when we talk about generational renewal, food security and the uncertainty of the new CAP. It is important that we continue to support our farmers who for so long were the backbone of our rural economy.

I welcome the progress made under the rural safety plan, including the roll-out of local community safety partnerships. It is an area we need to focus on where we have seen increases in rural burglaries. We need to look at how we could make people feel safer in their own homes. It is not simply a matter of increasing Garda numbers, and we cannot have a Garda in every house or every area of every housing estate, but a cross-departmental approach to rural safety is required. This is something we can continue to focus on and progress.

I appreciate it is not in the Minister's portfolio but I want to mention the Vintners Federation of Ireland's proposal on rural pubs and its sustainability scheme. I appreciate it is a finance issue but we are seeing many closures of rural pubs. They are community hubs as well and it is vital that the Government supports them because we are seeing so many closures in villages which now do not have places for people to meet. Many of them provide a community service and the scheme needs to be looked at in budget 2027.

Looking ahead more generally to the new Our Rural Future strategy for 2026 to 2031, there was extensive public consultation, which is to be commended. Policies need to be fed into by the people they will affect and there was quite an extensive consultation period on this new policy.

The record allocation of €611 million for the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht in budget 2026 shows the Government is backing its commitment with real investment. We are following through on what we said we would do. The job is not finished and there are still challenges to address. We must continue to invest in housing, healthcare, childcare, transport and further economic opportunities, but it is important to acknowledge what has been achieved. Rural Ireland is growing and investment is reaching communities. More people are choosing to live and work in rural areas. I believe the amendment recognises this progress while committing to build on it. I look forward to seeing the next phase of Our Rural Future and I hope we will continue to strengthen rural communities throughout the country.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister and the official to the Seanad. This is particularly important Private Members' business. I thank Senators Collins and Tully for setting out the background and the rationale behind their Private Members' motion. I acknowledge the Minister's exceptional commitment to rural Ireland and his Ministry. It is an amazing Ministry and I acknowledge the significant work the former Ministers, Heather Humphreys and Michael Ring, did in this area. It is a very special Ministry. There is not a day that statements do not come from the Minister. On a personal level I thank him for the level of engagement he has always shown to me in a most timely and professional way in relation to any representation I make on behalf of our rural county councillors and with regard to my interest in agriculture on the committee here. This is important to say.

I have to say I am somewhat surprised with the general Government response. Senators O'Loughlin and Lynch have spoken very positively about all of the issues and I do not understand why there is a countermotion. A countermotion is the Government's prerogative but this one is an add-on to what has already been said. I do not understand why it is one or the other. I genuinely say this as someone who likes to collaborate and work constructively with people. Both Senators come from constituencies that have rural and urban parts. There are urban parts in all of our areas. I am somewhat surprised by what the amendment tabled to the motion proposes to delete and it is important to say it to people are looking in at this debate.

How could the Government have a problem with the statement that "many rural areas continue to experience population decline, reduced public services, inadequate transport links, limited access to healthcare, childcare and housing, and declining frontline Garda visibility". There are reasons for these things and it is not laying the blame on anybody. The motion also states that "productive agricultural land is a strategic national asset that must be protected to safeguard food security, support family farms and sustain rural communities". There is no problem with that and I do not think the Minister has a problem with it.

The next paragraph reads "the transition to renewable energy and the development of critical infrastructure must be carried out in a manner that respects local democracy, protects the environment and ensures meaningful community participation". Senator O'Loughlin spoke very eloquently about the need for critical infrastructure and supported it. I do not understand how someone could suggest all of this should be scratched out. It is something I think is very positive. These are just two or three examples of what the motion includes.

The motion calls on the Government to "protect productive agricultural land through strengthened planning policy and ensure that food security is recognised as a strategic national priority". The motion also mentions accelerating investment in rural healthcare, home support services, childcare, schools, public transport, broadband and affordable housing. How could someone have an issue with this? How could someone suggest all of this is not good enough? Interestingly, these are all keywords and AI is a very interesting tool when used responsibly. All of this appears in the programme for Government. All of these key messages that the Government somehow seems to have a problem with are all positive ambitious plans in the current programme for Government. This is worth saying. I am very supportive of the motion and I thank Sinn Féin, in particular Senators Collins and Tully, for having this debate. It is important we have respectful and meaningful debate and I acknowledge this.

I am conscious of the Minister's public consultation, and I acknowledge it and thank them for it, in relation to the Our Rural Future work programme in 2025. In fairness to him, he did not stop at that. I received a further update when I requested it from his office very recently. It set out an intermediary between the two documents of ongoing commitments. It is very impressive and I acknowledge this. I know the public consultation is complete but it is important we publish it. We saw with regard to exempted development that 900 citizens made a submission and, as of today, the housing Department has not published the consultation. This is a bit disappointing. When people engage in a consultation process, they want to feel that their voices are heard. The only way they will see this is when it is published. I am not looking for the names of the people to be published but it is important that we publish the outcome of it. We know the programme for Government includes a commitment to publish the replacement of this. It has been a very successful blueprint and it is great when a Minister has a whole policy to attach to it. I am also conscious of the fact the OECD principles on rural policy clearly set down 11 objectives and I know they are embedded into this as a given.

I want to touch on a few issues before I finish. It is important we recognise the diversity in the demographics of rural Ireland. We recognise the planning challenges and opportunities ahead of us and we must be ambitious. Sinn Féin's Private Members' motion mentions employment opportunities, developing smarter towns and villages, community infrastructure and our ambition for housing, education, healthcare and childcare. The motion also mentions the importance of the Irish language, to which the Minister is fiercely committed, and rightly so, and this is very admirable. It references the importance of coastal communities and the islands to which, again, the Minister is fiercely committed. I thank him for the announcement made yesterday on funding for a number of coastal communities and the islands. It is significant.

The Private Members' motion commits to supporting a just transition, to which I know the Minister is fully committed. It also mentions the agrifood sector and the importance of diversification in agriculture, the maritime sector, coastal communities and fishing communities in terms of rural policy. Consideration should also be given to heritage and culture, tourism opportunities and sport, including the GAA, the FAI and all other local sports organisations. We could go on and on and include Tidy Towns and credit unions. It is important we have rural proofing of every and any policy the Government espouses.That should go regardless of any policy the Government espouses.

I would have liked to think we could integrate both of these - what my colleagues to my left have proposed and what the Government is setting out in its record because it does have a strong record. Let us be fair and reasonable and acknowledge that. It is a pity it should come to this. The one thing the public wants and expects of us is unity in these political arenas, the House of the Oireachtas, such that we represent constituencies. They want us to support one another. It is not about arguing all the time and demolishing ideas. No one has a veto over ideas or concepts. It is a pity it has come to this. I do not know what thought put or strategy was put into it but it sends a bit of a negative. I will support the Sinn Féin motion. I am happy also to support the track record, in particular the Minster's, in this area.

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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I too know how interested the Minister is in rural Ireland and in his brief. I cannot understand why the Government would not support the motion, either. It is a fantastic motion. A lot of us are representatives of rural areas. It is great to have everything in together. I do not think there is anything negative about it. I fail to understand why the Government has an amendment at all. The motion could easily have been supported.

The motion could not state the reality of life more clearly, "Rural communities are central to the social, economic, cultural and environmental well-being of the State". My constituency is very representative of that, made up of small towns in Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal. Under the national planning framework, all towns with a population of fewer than 10,000 people are classed as rural settlements meaning that every town, village and settlement in Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal with the exception of Sligo town is a rural settlement. That is indicative of most of our constituencies. As a nation that is what we are made up of. It takes me ten minutes to walk into town one way and if I walk the other, I can walk to agricultural land in ten minutes. Urban settings rely on rural settings and vice versa. There is nothing in this motion I would not support.

I know it is not the Minister's brief but I am concerned about the approach the Government has taken to the environment in general. We are not transitioning to renewable energies as quickly as we should. Independents who represent rural areas are supporting the Government. In an area like mine, there is a real threat from LNG development. I am surprised, in light of the national planning framework and the critical infrastructure Bill, that environmental measures will be overlooked. That is my main worry about rural Ireland. Places like Leitrim can be seen as a sacrificial zone because we have really good natural resources. Already 20% of its land is covered with forestry compared with the national average or 11.6%, mainly non-native Sitka spruce. There is exploitation of gold mining, fracking and giant windmills. We have spoken about wind energy. They are unsuitable. There is a proposed development in Leitrim again on Dough Mountain. It will be built on peatland so there is huge objection. The countermotion refers to local involvement. It is very easy for a planner in Dublin to look at where wind farms should be if there are not a lot of dwellings nearby but that often overlooks the impact these giant wind farms have. No one is against renewable energy. We all need to transition to that but it is it about being careful about not developing them in areas where they will really affect not only quality of life but also the environment with disasters like landslides, which are a big concern in Leitrim.

So many grassroots groups have come together. Rural Ireland is at its best when groups come together. There are Love Leitrim, Save Leitrim and Treasure Leitrim. They are all concerned people living in the local areas who work closely with Government representatives and with the Opposition, with all groups, and want to bring people with them. Again, that is why I cannot understand why this motion is not fully supported. I too was at the IFA submission event. It was said twice to me that trust is being lost between politicians and farmers, which we all need to take on board as political representatives.

I am delighted to support the motion. In this House, we spend a lot of time talking about rural Ireland. It is wonderful to have it all in one specific document.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. Like so many of the previous speakers, it would be disingenuous of me not to concede I agree with some of the points in the motion. However, having read the countermotion and having benefited significantly from the Our Rural Future policy in the past and looking forward to its future iterations, I note that none of the speakers so far have mentioned that budget 2026 was the largest the Department Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht has ever had. There was €611 million towards the delivery of initiatives across rural Ireland. Rather than calling on the Government, I know there is a programme for Government. There are clear timelines and targets in place across a number of areas incorporating a number of Departments. That is what we are all working towards and want to see delivered. Deputy Calleary is a rural Minister. Ideally I would have liked one of my party colleagues to be in his role but if there was to be someone else in it, a someone from a neighbouring county such as Deputy Calleary would be the ideal scenario. We have welcomed him to Roscommon on numerous occasions since he was appointed. I hope that continues and I hope we continue to see the investment from his Department in delivery in our areas.

There were announcements about the national broadband plan. Certain counties already have 100% delivery. My home county is due to have 100% delivery by November. When that initial idea was proposed, people thought it was pie in the sky, that it was not possible, that it was madness and asked how much were we going to spend on it. It came in on time and under budget. It has made a significant impact across rural Ireland. The amendment to the motion states that between 2016 and 2022, there was an increase in the population of rural Ireland of 5.8%. That would not have happened without that infrastructure empowering those people and giving them the opportunity to move to a part of the country they choose because of the quality of life they could get from that. The Minister has visited many of the connected hubs. The last time he was down in Castlerea, he was in the enterprise hub. I am a member of the Kiltullagh enterprise hub. There is another remote working area in Ballinlough. The whole country has these facilities now, meaning that should we ever experience something like Storm Éowyn in 2025 again, we will have supports to allow people to continue to work remotely, provide for their families and live where they want to.

Only this morning, I referred to Councillor Micheál Frain from Ballaghaderreen calling for 24-7 staffing of the Garda station in Ballaghaderreen. In the programme for Government there is no commitment to opening or staffing rural Garda stations but there is a commitment to support a visible Garda presence in our communities.There are commitments in the programme for Government to encouraging policing resources that are allocated based on operational need and to tackling rural crime. That is why I have repeatedly called for a different model of policing for rural Ireland. I do not believe one size fits all in Ireland. The Minister's county, my county and Longford are all in one big district and we have not benefited from additional Garda numbers in quite some time. Due to the geographical spread and the age demographic, we are suffering because of our low crime numbers, which is a blessing in one sense, but we cannot be complacent in that area. I will continue to call for those measures. I will continue to call for a different model but I will continue to acknowledge what is in the programme for Government and what we have committed to delivering. If things can be done better, I will suggest those and see where we can go with them.

The Minister's Department administers the town and village scheme and CLÁR funding. It supports the LEADER programme and the community recognition fund. Only three weeks ago, I called for a support fund for community groups, not for capital costs but for operational costs because that is where voluntary committees tell me they are struggling. The message in the Commencement matter came back that it is something the Department is looking at. That is delivery within Our Rural Future and it is answering the call that we have for rural Ireland.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the reference to education and healthcare in Sinn Féin's motion. With regard to healthcare, we also suffer in rural Ireland because of the distribution model of some of our ambulance services, especially in counties such as my own where we do not have an accident and emergency department. The dynamic distribution model is not fair on counties such as Roscommon, Longford and Leitrim, to name but a few, but that is something we can work with the National Ambulance Service on. We will work to try and address and deliver on that.

I acknowledge within this that the creation of the technological universities was a game-changer but I also recognise the recent announcement in the Minister's home county, in Castlebar, for the college of the future and the delivery of apprenticeships. That is very important because that is relieving the pressure on the urban areas where we already have universities and large student populations. I have been an advocate in this House on one or two occasions, and maybe more, for a similar facility for Roscommon. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, is open to it. He was not open to the initial site, but he is open to that. That is something I will continue to press for.

We are in a very good place. A lot has been done. I look forward to the new rural future strategy because there has been significant engagement. For the next time the Minister visits Roscommon, I draw his attention to the town teams that have been in existence in Roscommon since 2015. Some would say they have replaced the town councils but the delivery that has been achieved through the voluntary effort of these committees is something that we need to continue to support. We need to look at some sort of strategy where their voluntary hours can be seen as a contribution to the matched-funding element. That is something that was there in the past. Volunteers' time is something that we need to put a value on.

I acknowledge and support the countermotion.

Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. I will also be supporting the countermotion.

I will make a couple of brief points in relation to the Department. I very much appreciate the high level of activity that the Minister has brought to the role since he took it up and the many visits he has made to my own home county of Wexford. These successful visits have been an opportunity for the Minister and his officials to meet and engage with so many of the people who make up the real fabric of the rural community right across south Wexford.

I wanted to speak on that theme about CLÁR funding and the opportunities that currently exist in CLÁR funding for emergency first-responder groups. I recently met with a group of first responders in the Kilmore community first responders. They explained to me that their role is to be contacted through the emergency services when somebody has a cardiac event, in particular, in that small rural peninsula on the Wexford coastline. They said that in many instances they arrive on the scene before the emergency paramedics and the ambulance service arrive. As a result, in many instances they are the people who are applying the defibrillator pads to the patient. We are very fortunate that the CLÁR scheme has been extended to Wexford. The scheme, as currently constituted, provides such groups with the ability to access a vehicle, which would be essential if they were the Coast Guard, mountain rescue or a different group like that, but unfortunately it does not provide support for the day-to-day cost of these pads. They have said to me that when you put the pads on, you cannot take them off and put them on to somebody else, and that they are one-use only. They are not reusable. The pads can cost several hundred euro. They are running quite a lot of fundraisers just to get access to the pads. I ask that in the next round of CLÁR perhaps the Minister and the Department could look at some sort of grant scheme for those individual defibrillator pads. They are not asking to be funded for the day-to-day work that they do. They are not asking to be funded for any other ongoing costs they have but it is a capital cost in the sense that this is much-needed equipment. The CLÁR scheme that is there for these first responders covers the cost of a high-profile high-level defibrillator machine but these are the handheld portable ones that they bring out on the scene as the first responders. I ask that the Minister and the officials might take a look at that.

The second matter I want to speak about is the enormous success that the community centres investment fund has been. I wonder whether there is an opportunity for perhaps an amount of money that is currently too big for the community enhancement scheme and too small for the overall community centres investment fund. I am talking about projects, such as if you need to put in a full new floor in a community centre, that are too big for the €5,000 grant and are not necessarily major capital projects that will cost €100,000 plus. Is there an opportunity there for a new tier that would capture some of those projects? A lot of the groups that I have engaged with are a little daunted by applying for the main fund because they do not feel that it applies to them. Maybe it is the case that they should be putting in for that, but perhaps there is an opportunity to have a second tier there.

I commend the work the Minister and his officials, who I see are here this evening, are doing.

Paraic Brady (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister. I, too, support the countermotion. My colleagues have raised a number of issues but I would like to touch on the GAA's demographics report. It is about how we support those clubs in the countryside that are finding it hard to get players and the population to stay in that area. In my home village, it is all about supporting two local schools. In the case of the one in Ballinamuck, if we can support keeping even three families around and there are two children in each family, we keep a national school open and we keep a teacher there. With that, we keep a bus on the road and we also keep a GAA field alive.

It is very important that we understand what rural Ireland actually means. It means, with the likes of the farm assist, that when a farmer gets the farm assist he is staying at home. He is farming. He is working the land, but he also maybe has another job block-laying or whatever he is at locally. However, his family is reared there. He is buying his groceries in the local shop. He is spending all the money locally. He is probably doing a small bit of farming, drainage and whatever else. Everything is local. Everything is supporting local jobs and local communities. That, in itself, is very important.When you go out to the west of Ireland and look out across the sea, the nearest school could be 23 miles away. Glangevlin and Dowra are what we classify as rural where people have to travel for 23 or 24 miles to get to local schools. It is all about supporting those schools, supporting communities and keeping communities alive. I welcome it and thank the Minister for his attendance today.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis na Seanadóirí Collins agus Tully as an rún agus le gach Seanadóir atá tar éis labhairt anocht. Is príomhthosaíocht don Rialtas seo tacú le tuath na hÉireann, agus fáiltím roimh an deis labhairt i Seomra an tSeanaid faoi na ceisteanna tábhachtacha seo. Mar Aire, agus mar Rialtas, tá tiomantas agus uaillmhian againn do thuath na hÉireann agus muintir na tuaithe. Tá pobail tuaithe nasctha, acmhainneacha agus cuimsitheacha i gcroílár ár bhfíse don fhorbairt tuaithe. Gan tacaíocht agus infheistíocht leanúnach inár gceantair thuaithe, ní féidir linn an fhorbairt eacnamaíoch, shóisialta, chultúir agus chomhshaoil a bhaint amach a thacóidh le cáilíocht beatha gach saoránach.

I welcome the chance to speak to this motion this evening. Recent figures from the CSO show that there is a 5.8% increase in the number of people living in rural areas between 2016 and 2022. In areas classified as highly rural and remote, the increase was 6.4%. These findings align with the analysis of the OECD, which in its recent independent review, quoted by Senator Boyhan, found that the rural and remote regions in Ireland recorded the highest population growth of all OECD countries between 2001 and 2021. That evidence does not support the claim that there is widespread rural depopulation. Of course, I acknowledge that there are significant variations within these statistics. There are areas that are facing particular challenges that we must and will support, but the Government recognises this, and supporting the sustainability of all rural areas remains a key priority.

Employment continues to be strong in rural areas. Incomes are rising. As we all agree in this Chamber, rural Ireland has a much better overall quality of life. This is why the Our Rural Future policy takes a whole-of-government approach to rural development. Launched by the then Minister, Heather Humphreys, in 2021, the policy has delivered vital investment and supports to rural areas, strengthening local economies and improving quality of life for people across rural Ireland. Significant achievements, which are not acknowledged in the main motion and which is why we have tabled an amendment, include improvements in digital connectivity, referred to by Senator Scahill, and the development of a national network of over 400 remote working hubs and improvements in essential services in rural areas.

Our flagship projects include the rural regeneration development fund, RRDF. This has delivered over €440 million to 164 major projects countrywide since 2020, bringing new life into previously dilapidated buildings and structures. Senators have referred to CLÁR. In that time, over 1,500 projects have been allocated funding of €65 million under the CLÁR programme, funding projects in areas of rural need. I have taken on board Senator Byrne's proposals around emergency first responders. I have seen at first hand the extraordinary work they do.

In 2025 alone, the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I allocated a spend of €53.8 million on RRDF; €30 million on LIS for non-public roads and laneways; €58 million on SICAP to support disadvantaged urban communities; €21.9 million on the town and village renewal scheme; €58 million on the community services programme, CSP; €16.8 million on the offshore islands for passenger and cargo transport and key infrastructure projects; breis is €12 milliún chun tacaíocht a thabhairt do chúrsaí Gaeltachta; agus breis is €11 milliún chun an Ghaeilge a úsáid sa tríú leibhéal.

We are now working on a new version of Our Rural Future. I spent some of today in my lateral meetings with colleagues across government. We will publish it in the autumn. As had already been acknowledged, we have done so with a public consultation which gather the views of well over 2,000 participants. We will share those views, as Senator Boyhan has proposed. The engagement was online and included a series of eight public and stakeholder events and a public written consultation. Most importantly, as has been referred to, it included a formal rural youth assembly, which we hosted last autumn, ensuring that young people from some of the most rural areas in the country had an input into the policy.

Key themes that emerged included much of what has been discussed this evening, namely, supporting local economies and strengthening the resilience and sustainability of rural communities, villages and towns, to continue to promote balanced regional development. We also commissioned the OECD to do an independent review of rural policy in Ireland as part of the preparation of Our Rural Future. That demonstrates we are not precious and we are open to new ideas. That review was published in January of this year. It acknowledges the substantial progress that has been made in lreland, both under Our Rural Future and more broadly since the establishment of my Department in 2017 under the then Minister Michael Ring.

Ireland is recognised as unique among OECD countries for its whole-of-government approach to rural development and for the high level of awareness and visibility given to rural need across Departments. It is my intention to continue that visibility and awareness. It is my job as Minister for rural affairs to put the studs on for rural Ireland. That is something we do daily and they are used where is necessary. The plan will be supported by ambitious, clear, practical and measurable actions. I have spoken to some of the funding programmes available within my Department. As has been referred to, we have secured €611 million in budget 2026, the highest ever allocation to the Department, which demonstrates my Government's commitment to investing in rural communities.

Tá tiomantas láidir ann freisin, ní hamháin don tír ach do na hoileáin amach ón gcósta agus do phobal na Gaeltachta. Sin an fáth go bhfuil an méadú is mó le blianta anuas sa mhaoiniú don Ghaeltacht mar chuid den ardú suntasach sin de €611 milliún. Tá an t-airgead seo á úsáid chun an Ghaeilge agus cultúr Gaelach a chur chun cinn agus a chosaint ar fud oileán na hÉireann agus ar fud an domhain. Táim tar éis cuairt a thabhairt ar gach ceantar Gaeltachta chun plé fairsing a dhéanamh leis na pobail sin chun a fháil amach uathu féin cén cineál tacaíochta ar féidir a chur ar fáil dóibh chun cabhrú leo. Táim chun leanúint ar aghaidh leis an obair sin sa bhuiséad le teacht agus na buiséid eile.

The rural development investment programme includes RRDF, which I have already referred to. The sixth call for category 1 applications remains open until later this month. We are engaging with local authorities around the country. Last month, I turned the sod on major works to the Ballintubber Abbey Visitor Centre, which has been allocated €6.4 million, and the Edenderry regeneration project in County Offaly, which received €15 million. The 2026 CLÁR programme, which is a €12 million investment, opened in March. It provides the funding for the small-scale projects in some of our smallest rural areas that we have all spoken about. A total of €61 million is being allocated to projects under the current LEADER programme. A total of €20 million has been allocated to the outdoor reaction and infrastructure scheme, ORIS, which is currently open for applications. Since 2020, over 1,000 projects have been supported by €140 million of funding under the town and village renewal. The community centre investment fund closed on Monday at 3 p.m. To be clear, the initial tranche is €25,000, not €5,000, and it goes to €100,000. Individuals do not have to apply for the €100,000. We have record interest in this year's refurbishment programme.

The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I are committed to launching new builds programme so that people such as a community in Rylane can have the kind of advantages that are offered. I will speak to Rylane. I want to make a more general point. I visited many areas. I visit many voluntary groups and one of the strengths of rural Ireland is that it is driven by women across the country. The Rylane group, particularly Senator Lynch, comes to mind. We met a group in Limerick this time last year.It is local women driving rural projects forward. I compliment and thank them. Senator Tully also found that in Cavan earlier this year. It is important and really significant.

Urban communities are being assisted as well, through SICAP, where core funding of €147 million has been allocated. One of the unsung heroes of my Department is the community services programme, CSP, which provides services to many of the voluntary organisations that have been referred to. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I will be in a position to announce new entrants to the scheme for 2027 this autumn. I have already referred to the island funding. The biggest project in the history of our Department is the €35 million investment currently under way on Inis Oirr pier i gContae na Gaillimhe. Tá sé sin tábhachtach do phobal agus muintir Inis Oírr, atá ag fanacht ar chaladh nua le blianta. Tá sé tábhachtach don turasóireacht, do mhuintir an oileáin agus don sábháilteacht.

We referred extensively to the national broadband plan. Two weeks ago, I was on Inishturk, one of the smallest islands in our country, which now has access to fibre broadband. That is really important, also in terms of building community resilience.

Many Senators have referred to the improvements in rural transport through Our Rural Future. Yes, there is more work to be done, but there is actually a lot of work to be done to join up the improvements that have been made. Senator Tully is right. When we consider that over 8 million passenger journeys were recorded across Connecting Ireland services in 2025, that gives us a sense of the demand. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has provided funding for three smart demand transport services, in Killarney, the north east of Limerick city and on Achill. TFI Anseo is basically Local Link on demand and is working incredibly successfully. The connecting Ireland rural mobility programme is putting in important public transport infrastructure such as shelters and real-time signage to encourage people to use it. The roads network constantly needs investment. In 2026, €780 million has been allocated to the regional and local roads network. Senator Tully is absolutely right on the impact weather is having. We continue to invest in climate preparation. The kind of weather we are having now is in stark contrast to the showers and snow we will have in a few months' time. It is very difficult to invest in those kind of circumstances. Since 2020, over €150 million has gone into the local investment scheme.

We are zeroing in on housing. Housing is the priority. With the draft planning guidelines published the Minister, Deputy James Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins, last week, it is now the first time since 2005 that we have planning regulations in place for rural Ireland. Tá sé mar aidhm ag an dréachtráiteas soiléireacht agus comhsheasmhacht níos fearr a thabhairt do bheartas tithíochta tuaithe i bpobail tuaithe agus i bpobail Ghaeltachta. Is é seo an chéad dréachtráiteas pleanála don Ghaeltacht riamh. It is the first time we have a planning statement for Gaeltacht communities. We have work to do and I look forward to adopting and finalising that work.

Continuously investing in our rural economy is our major platform. Senator O'Loughlin highlighted that. In 2025, 69% of Enterprise Ireland job creation was located outside the Dublin region. Enterprise Ireland is investing in Irish-owned, Irish-founded companies. Similarly, 59% of IDA investments were located outside the Dublin region. We will continue to work, looking at the progress we can make through the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and, as Senator O'Loughlin said, through supporting our local enterprise offices.

Many Senators referred to Garda numbers. The Garda workforce is now at 18,276 compared to 15,900 ten years ago. The Garda is on trend for the first time to meet recruitment targets. In 2025, 800 new Garda trainees entered the Garda College and we know we can meet the target of 5,000 new trainees in the next five years. When we consider that 11,000 people sought to join An Garda Síochána, it means we will reach those targets, and then we can allocate gardaí to communities across rural Ireland.

Agriculture is the backbone. We have all been in the Mansion House today, or everyone has said they were anyway. Energy security is key and crucial. Everybody wants energy security but nobody wants wind energy. We have to strike a balance and get a real discussion, but food security is most important. Ireland is the food security centre of Europe and we are going to use the Presidency to progress it.

Our Rural Future will be republished in October. We are focusing on many areas in it. I thank all those who made submissions. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness made a formal submission on behalf of Sinn Féin. As we finalise that, I am certainly more than open to individual ideas from Senators. We will continue the record investment. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, and I are absolutely focused. Many Senators have spoken about healthcare. While we have gaps there, we are addressing them. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has announced the minor injury units, which will take the pressure off major hospitals and ensure services are available. Community healthcare networks, the use of technology and the national broadband plan in health are bringing digital health to our rural and island communities in a way that we could never have done before we had the national broadband structure.

Mar fhocal scoir, léiríonn an fhianaise go bhfuil an leibhéal infheistíocht ann agus go bhfuil aird á tabhairt do thuath na hÉireann mar phríomhthosaíocht Rialtais. Mar Airí sa Roinn, déanfaidh mise agus an tAire Stáit, an Teachta Buttimer, gach iarracht chun a chinntiú go mbeidh tacaíocht ann chun freastal air. We are determined to drive this on and make improvements. We are lucky to work with a super Department. I thank my officials who are here and right across the country. Most importantly, I thank the volunteers the length and breadth of our island who make things happen in rural communities. Without them, there would be no GAA, social groups, chambers of commerce or IFA and no life in rural Ireland.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response and all the Senators who contributed. However, I am more confused after this debate. I think every Senator in this House touched off an issue in rural Ireland, including Garda numbers making our communities feel safer. We never once said we wanted a garda in every house but, yes, we do want greater Garda numbers. We referred to GAA clubs not having enough players, which is another part of it. Senator O'Loughlin welcomed the wind energy guidelines being released, which was in our motion. Supporting pubs was definitely mentioned, and small businesses in rural communities were included in our motion. Reference was made to the National Ambulance Service, but healthcare was in our motion. I am more confused as to why the amendment takes everything out of our motion and makes no calls on the Government when all the Government Senators called on their Government to do something tonight. I just do not understand that. I would have loved if the Government Senators had removed the parts of the motion they did not like, left the parts that they did like in and added their own bits or reworded it.

Senator Boyhan said he did not understand why everything was wiped and the Government Senators put their own wording in. I have a feeling it is because "Sinn Féin" was printed at the end. That is how it feels since the day we started writing motions and Private Members' business in this House. If Sinn Féin is on it, the entire thing is wiped. It comes back to us with an amendment to delete everything after "Seanad Éireann" and put in something else. It just does not make sense to me that we did not work together on it. We have all called for stuff for rural Ireland, yet the Government side wiped the entire motion and called on the Government to do nothing. That was left blank. I cannot figure it out.

GAA clubs are being pushed together. There was a time when you had to get a letter from your GAA club to play for another club because it was in a different parish. Now we could have four or five parishes all playing in one club because they do not have the numbers. I know the statistics show that between 2016 and 2022, we had higher numbers. That could be in certain pockets around rural Ireland; it is not a percentage across rural Ireland. I would like to see what it has been for the last four years and whether it has increased again.

There was reference to our roads in rural Ireland, including the Macroom bypass and the N20-M20 being a little bit slow. A little bit slow would be five or ten years; we are over 20 years calling for it. That is not a little bit slow. That road has one of the most dangerous junctions, at O'Rourke's Cross where there have been the most accidents.It is probably classed as the most dangerous junction in the Twenty-six Counties. We are not calling for the moon and the stars. We are just calling for acknowledgement. For once, I did not criticise the Government or say it did not do something. I have acknowledged stuff. We have noted stuff and called on the Government to do stuff. I could have just wrote "The Government is crap" and put it down as a motion, but I did not. I was being constructive. I was trying to include some nice things for a change because I do not always want to stand up here and give out. I want to say nice things.

I had planned on coming in today and wishing the Limerick hurlers the best of luck but then I thought I would wait until tomorrow so as to end on a good note because I am usually the one standing here giving out about something. I had to do it tonight because the Government Senators just ripped this whole motion apart and called on the Government to do nothing. They then contradicted their amendment when they all stood up to give out about different things in rural Ireland, saying that this thing or that thing could be done. It just does not make sense to me. Perhaps, the next time we submit a motion, we might not say it is from us. We might then get some of it through.

Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail)
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On a point of order before we start the vote, as we give schoolchildren no homework when they come in here, if Argentina manage to come back and win can we have tomorrow off?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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We will give the Senator Sunday off to watch the final. How about that?

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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When is it proposed to sit again?

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.