Bertie Ahern
Question:3 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach the western development and rural renewal initiatives being funded by his Department. [11237/95]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Western Development — Rural Renewal Initiatives.
As Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach I have responsibility for co-ordinating the Government's commitment to tackling the issues of western development and finding new and innovative ways of promoting rural renewal. In that capacity, I have responsibility for a number of initiatives.
I am responsible for overseeing the activities of the Western Development Partnership Board and for co-ordinating support for the implementation of the action plan currently in preparation by the board.
In response to one of the recommendations of the recent report by the National Economic and Social Council entitled, New Approaches to Rural Renewal, I also have the task of overseeing the implementation of a pilot programme for the development of a more integrated approach to the delivery of services particularly in less populated rural areas and to see how this initiative could make a positive contribution to the process of rural renewal.
In this regard, I recently hosted a number of seminars involving State, semi-State agencies, local development organisations and local community and voluntary groups with the aim of determining the nature and scope of this particular pilot programme. It is intended that the pilot programme will have been identified and initiated by the autumn.
As chairman of the Interdepartmental Co-ordinating Committee on Island Development, I am responsible for co-ordinating the responses of individual Departments in respect of their areas of particular responsibility on matters affecting the development and improvement of living conditions of our offshore island communities, for example, housing, roads, healthcare, power supply and transport services. The committee's report is at an advanced stage of preparation.
I will also be working closely with my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for local development, Deputy Gay Mitchell, with regard to the co-ordination of the work of development agencies and groups in relation to western counties.
Funding in support of this programme of work is provided for in the Vote of the Department of the Taoiseach.
I tabled this question to the Taoiseach but, unfortunately, he is not present this afternoon. I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Will he outline the Government's policy on decentralisation and towards what new decentralisation programme on western development is the Government working? Will he accept that the people in Castlerea in County Roscommon are up in arms about the cancellation of the prison building project which generated great hope among the people in the west, one of the reasons it was decided to locate it there? Will he agree that the Government has no real commitment to rural Ireland, especially to the west and Border counties, even though the Minister of State, a decent Member of the House, is doing his best? The Government is only paying lip-service to it. Will the Minister of State agree that if the by-election were taking place in Roscommon next week, the decision would not have been taken to cancel the prison project? Will he accept that Fine Gael, the only Government party represented in Roscommon, has let the people of the west down once again?
The Deputy raised a number of matters which are clearly separate and not the responsibility of the Minister of State.
I appreciate Deputy Ahern is very conscious that a by-election is taking place in Wicklow and wants to make his point. He is only doing his duty as Leader of his party. His ineptitude has resulted in him being in Opposition. If he had a determined view on the west and progress here he would have made an attempt at least to visit Mayo to try to win the by-election there, but he failed to appear. My opinion on the Deputy's view on by-elections and events is based on his performance to date.
Regarding the west and the western development plan, I am certain that when the Deputy and the former Taoiseach, Deputy Reynolds, set up the Western Development Partnership Board they gave directions to those with responsibility for preparing the action plan that decentralisation should be a core issue. In the documentation I have examined. I have not seen any evidence of the previous Government's intention to decentralise as part of its action plan.
What about Castlerea?
I am talking about my responsibilities. The Chair has just stated that my responsibility is limited and I know my limitations, unlike the Deputies opposite who did not have limitations.
It is no wonder the Taoiseach did not turn up. He left the Minister of State to carry the can.
I am a humble person—
The Minister of State should sit down.
And admit he is wrong.
——and I want to assist the people in the west who are also humble. They are not fooled by the——
Wall.
——periodic outbreaks of patriotism and concern that emanate from Fianna Fáil benches, particularly when Members sitting on those benches believe they can avail of a political opportunity. Political opportunism does not put bread and butter into the mouths of people in the west.
The Minister of State is taking it out of their mouths.
In recent years we have witnessed the total depopulation of some areas of the west.
The Minister of State should talk to the people of Castlerea.
Deputy Dermot Ahern should recall the number of times as Chief Whip he answered the Minister, Deputy Higgins, about the depopulation of areas close to Castlerea. He should acknowledge the large decrease in the population of areas in the west while Fianna Fáil were in power. We are not concerned that it is failing to take responsibility for its lack of interest during that time.
The Minister of State's party closed Knock.
We did not close Knock but Fianna Fáil tried to close Shannon, something I will not forget.
Is the Minister of State reversing the decision?
I cannot recall the other questions that were put to me by the leader of the Opposition, but I am sure they were about political matters and I have made a reasonable attempt at answering them.
The Minister of State did not mention the prison.
Does the Minister of State accept that we may have too many agencies and organisations delivering the limited funding available for the west? Does he accept that there is a danger of overlap and unnecessary overheads? What does he propose to do about co-ordinating or amalgamating some of those agencies?
I thought Deputy Ahern's main concern would relate to an overlap of the many agencies he established during his time as Minister for Finance. The Minister of State with responsibility for local government, Deputy Gay Mitchell, and I have been given responsibility to co-ordinate the work of development agencies in the western counties. Co-ordination groups, from which the Leader programmes, county development boards and so on will operate, will be established in each county, thereby eliminating an overlap.
The Minister of State is quite powerful.
But modest.
As a first step would the Minister of State insist that organisations at a county level operate from one premises?
That would conform with my pilot scheme for one stop shops and I thank the Deputy for his suggestion.
The Minister of State should acknowledge that the schemes established during my time in office gave him a job. There would be nothing for him to do if those agencies did not exist. Those schemes were established because of EU funding and while it may make good sense on paper to amalgamate them, in practice we would not get the necessary funding. The Minister of State's suggestion would mean a loss of money and damage his vote.
That is not correct.
I agree with Deputy Nealon's suggestion that they should operate from one office.
And share the overheads.
The overheads could be shared but EU funding would not be provided separately for NOW, HORIZON, Leader and so on.
An enormous amount of money could be saved and used on the ground.
Can I take it that there will not be another round of decentralisation? The Minister of State avoided answering that question. Is the decentralisation programme finished and, if not, to what areas will there be further decentralisation?
I am responsible for western development and rural renewal. The action plan being drawn up will explore the possibility of valuable decentralisation and recommendations will be submitted to Government. I do not have a negative view of decentralisation as in many cases it has been worthwhile. In regard to agency overlap, many people do not know where to go to get information. Deputy Nealon's suggestion of a one stop shop with shared overheads and full utilisation of EU funding is worth considering as it would make good sense for people to be able to obtain from one office the necessary information to promote a development. One of the great planks of the last Government was the enormous amount of money it got from the European Union and this Government intends getting the best value from that money.
I listened with interest to the Minister of State's reply but as someone who has been involved in western development for 21 years, I am tired of the same old answers. Does he not agree that the interdepartmental report on the islands has been at an advanced stage for many years and that is is about time it saw the light of day? Does he not agree also that a report is not necessary to deal with some of the most pressing issues on those islands, namely, the £9,000 means test for maintenance grants for second level boarding school students and the need for proper ferry and air services to the island?
That report is at an advanced stage.
It has been that way for years.
It will be published in the near future. Some of the difficulties outlined by Deputy Ó Cuív have been addressed in this report, details of which I do not want to anticipate. It will be a comprehensive document, the first complete study published on this matter. I have no doubt the House will be satisfied that it will make a genuine contribution to improving the lives of people on our offshore islands.
Is the Minister of State aware that for many years the stock answer to any question about lack of facilities on our offshore islands, particularly the non-Gaeltacht ones, was that there was a departmental committee report being prepared and that this was the only information one could glean from official quarters? Can he indicate when the report will be published since its gestation period has been exceptionally long? If the Minister of State can bring forward publication, I will be the first to commend him. It is urgently required because the position on our offshore islands is disastrous and the facilities are pathetic, certainly in the case of the non-Gaeltacht islands which have been neglected.
It is my intention to have this document before the Government before the summer recess.
That is progress.