I welcome the Our Rural Future policy consultation process. It is a further step to re-addressing and rebalancing the regional balance, which is so vital for all of us in this country. It is essential if we are to provide better services and better infrastructure for not just our rural areas but also for our rural villages and towns. I have listened to comments from the Opposition over the last ten or 15 minutes. They have spoken about how we have failed rural Ireland and let it down, yet Deputy O'Meara pointed to a number of grants that have been available. I can also point to a number of grants and policies that we have established over the last ten years that have ensured that rural Ireland is not dying, is not dead and that we will always have rural Ireland's back. Let us look at the sports capital grants, the rural regeneration and development fund, and at the roll-out of broadband that has really brought remote working to rural towns and rural areas and takes the stress off many families from their daily commutes which now maybe only exist for one or two days. That does not point to a failure in rural Ireland. That points to success. I refute completely what the Opposition said about our policy and our commitment to rural Ireland, but there is always room for improvement. I look at County Louth and, where it comes to transport, I agree with Deputy Wall. There seems to be a slowdown in the process and roll-out of rural transport. County Louth still does not have any links from east to west of the county. That means the villages of Clogherhead, Dunleer, and Ardee cannot connect with each other except by car. Surely in this day and age, the county which is the second most densely populated in the country should have rural transport which links from east to west. We have also spoken about housing. I concur with most of my colleagues on rural housing. We have been restrictive about facilitating families, in many cases, to live in the communities where they were born and reared. This is not limited to farming families. I, as the daughter of a farmer, was lucky. I got a site and built my bungalow but many of my friends in the community were refused. They have the same rights as I have. They grew up and wanted to continue to live in Togher parish but were denied by restrictive policies in regard to rural housing. We must re-address that. It is not just about creating a community that will continue and thrive into the future; it is also about keeping that community connected and united. They are the people who service the clubs, offer their time and volunteer. They are also the people who take care of their families. As we know, many families have to row in where we have not been able to provide the supports. There are families providing care to their parents and siblings seven days a week. There is never a Saturday or a Sunday off. They are providing those services where we have not been able to provide them yet. These people are essential to our communities and have a right to build a house in the community in which they have lived. We must re-address that balance. We must also address how we deal with housing for older people. We must have a policy that is proactive, progressive and very fast. Our population is ageing and we will very shortly - within ten to 15 years - have an ageing population whose housing needs are not being met. We have rural towns and villages and have provided a series of grants to regenerate these towns and villages but we also have to think about reviving our town centres and bringing people to live there - not just young people but also older people. Would it not be wonderful to go into the village of Dunleer or into Ardee or Castlebellingham and, because of the way we have changed the policy and facilitated it through incentives and central planning, older people could walk out their front door, get the paper and meet the people in their community? Isolation is a fear many older people have. By doing this, we would provide community and services. To walk down to their GP would be a wonderful thing for many older people. We often hear from our constituents that they are living in houses that have outgrown them. They are tottering about in the houses, they are there on their own and they would like to move but do not want to move out of their communities. We must address that policy in tandem with our rural housing policy. It is not just about the young families who will support their families; it is also about ensuring people live in their homes longer, stay healthier and live better. We must also address that policy.

Sentiment score: 0.15