I ask for a rural tax designation scheme to be extended to County Limerick outside the city environs so that local investment resources are retained in the area and targeted at job creation and population retention initiatives in County Limerick. At present, the county is facing serious decline and the change in Objective One status has created considerable concern within the county.
I appeal to the Minister to examine the proposal which I put forward for the following reasons. The population decline in County Limerick, especially in towns, villages and the open countryside, has been considerable over a number of decades. Towns such as Rathkeale, Newcastlewest, Askeaton, Kilmallock and others have seriously declined. There is a high economic dependency ratio in the county. There is serious dereliction in the towns with many houses unoccupied or derelict, as well as dereliction of houses in the countryside. There is a lack of quality accommodation to either rent or buy in the county. That does not make it attractive for people to move to live in the county. The local infrastructure is poor. The N69 is the main route along the Shannon. There are excellent opportunities for development in Askeaton and for marine development in Foynes, but the condition of access road to those towns is unacceptable. If works are not carried out to improve it, an opportunity will be lost for the county.
There is high unemployment, outward migration and under-employment in small businesses and on farms in the county. The dependency rate on agriculture is high. A total of 62 per cent of those employed in the county are employed in agriculture or in agricultural services. A total of 15,600 people are employed in this sector. There has been a serious decline in agriculture and the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy will have a further impact on services. The best case scenario is that 3,000 of the 15,600 people dependent on agriculture will lose their jobs by the year 2005.
There is a lack of graduate and high skills employment and an under-development of tourism in the region. There is a major lack of enterprise space and there are no advance factories. There is a 200 acre serviced industrial development site in Askeaton, but no factories have moved into it. There is an outflow of capital from the county and a lack of local or inward investment. Granting the county the status of a rural tax designation would have a positive impact.
The positive developments in Limerick City and its hinterland contrast with decline throughout the county. None of the towns in County Limerick has a population in excess of 6,000. Despite perceived prosperity, the mid-west region generated the third worst regional level of average household disposable income in Ireland in 1994 and 1995. Mid-west household incomes dropped by 10 per cent from 1987-94, the highest fall in household income in any region at that time.
Will the Minister examine this proposal and give a positive response to it? The county should be granted the status of a rural tax designation to counteract the changes that may follow the granting of Objective One status to other areas and to halt and reverse the serious decline in agriculture.