I welcome the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to the committee.
Job Creation: Discussion with Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Ní choinneoidh mé an choiste i bhfad mar tá a fhios agam go raibh tráthnóna an-fhada ag na baill. Ba mhaith liom a leagaint amach céard é mo straitéis, mar Aire, ó thaobh fostaíocht a chruthú sa Ghaeltacht. Ar ndóigh, mar a mhínigh mé cheana, is é an tÚdarás a fheidhmíonn polasaithe na Roinne agus an Rialtais i leith fostaíocht a chruthú sa Ghaeltacht. Níl amhras ar bith ann ach gur fearr as i bhfad atá an Ghaeltacht de bharr an tÚdarás a bheith ann i comparáid le ceantair eile dá mhacsamhail sa tír taobh amuigh den Ghaeltacht. Is dóigh liom go bhfuil sé tábhachtach é sin a aithint.
Má táimid chun breathnú ar an tionsclaíocht i gcaoi fuarchúiseach, caithfimid breathnú ar cheist amháin. Caithfidh an fostaíocht a cuirtear ar fáil a bheith iomaíoch. Mar sin, tá béim faoi leith le chur ar an gceist sin i leagan amach polasaithe agus straitéis. Céard iad na láidreachtaí atá againn? Céard iad na rudaí a bhfuilimid in ann déanamh go maith? Céard iad na rudaí ina bhfuil buntáistí againn nuair a thagann sé le fostaíocht a chruthú? Céard iad na rudaí nach bhfuil againn? Is there a translation service?
There is not.
I am sorry I did not realise that. It is a pity there is not.
We have already discussed that matter
It is a damned if you do and damned if you do not situation. No matter what way one examines it, the Gaeltacht because of Údarás na Gaeltachta is much better off than the comparable non-Gaeltacht areas.
Ireland has probably one of the most open economies globally. When examining industry and employment, there is no point in pretending we can compete with low-cost economies and still retain all the benefits of the developed economy we have. The only way to produce materials as cheaply as they can be in China, India or the Far East is to pay people the same low wages. Thankfully, we have gone beyond that and our people expect a much higher standard of living. I believe we cannot compete against the low-cost economies on this factor.
The provision of infrastructure is the first issue to be tackled. I worked in the Gaeltacht slaving away for years as a co-operative society manager and creating industry there. The first problem I encountered was infrastructure. That was the reason I introduced the strategic roads initiative, scéim bóithre straitéiseacha. It has made a significant impact on roads in the Gaeltacht. I am delighted that the bridge to Achill Island, with 50% funding support from my Department, is being refurbished. Improvements to roads into Gaoth Dobhair, Glencolumbkille and Connemara also have had an impact. While I cannot shorten the roads, I can make them better. The islands infrastructure has greatly improved. We are involved in the largest ever infrastructure programme for the islands.
The problem with the ESB and electricity supply was not due to the board's unwillingness to provide for the upgrading of supply but planning. While I am delighted the Castlebar to Westport electricity line has progressed, planning issues arose in Donegal and Connemara. It was for that reason I asked the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Dick Roche, to include the provision of 110 kVA lines in the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act. There was an interesting meeting this week with the ESB which is using the legislation to resolve the problem of providing good electricity supply to west Donegal and west Mayo.
On leathanbhanda, broadband, decisions will be made on the national broadband scheme in June. The national approach of putting broadband into every part of the country without it is the only quick way of fixing that. Once going down that route, one has to follow the process. There are no shortcuts. The process may be long with selecting preferred bidders, then final bidders and then drawing up the contract and 18 months to deliver the product. However, there is no quicker way to do this. I accept there is a valid argument as to why we did not start earlier but this is the quick way forward.
As many Gaeltacht areas are remote, the CLÁR programme has supported providing local water and sewerage schemes. That is important as one needs the bunstruchtúr. The money Údarás na Gaeltachta was able to release through the sale of assets meant my Department did not fund the building of new factories. Instead the recycled money, so to speak, allowed me to provide funding for infrastructure projects. I believe that was a fair match.
Regarding competitiveness, there is one source of industry in which we have no competitors — the Irish language. The Chinese, Indians and many people in this country too cannot compete in this area. We have a major advantage in that regard. As it is the first official language of the State and an official language of the EU, someone must provide Irish language services. Obviously the Gaeltacht will do so.
TG4, a fantastic employer, is based in the Gaeltacht and it has spawned major industries through Údarás, North and South — smaoiním ar "Gleann Ceo", mar shampla. Is í Nemeton, thíos i bPort Láirge — an Ghaeltacht is lú sa tír — ceann de na comhlachtaí is fearr. It has spread out and downstreamed a great deal of industry. It has been fantastic. Tá mé ag caint mar gheall ar Telegael, EO Teilifís agus mar sin de. The second one is Raidió na Gaeltachta.
Ar ndóigh chomh maith le sin, tá cinneadh déanta agam that we will have our own Leader partnership company, MFG, for all of the Gaeltachtaí. Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann is doing the equivalent and it is very interesting watching the islands in this regard. One of the most successful small islands is Inisheer. It needed a company for one job and this has now been turned into eight jobs. Most of the population is female, and it is well known that a young female population can be a great boost for the future. It just vindicates the argument that rural and Gaeltacht areas should get their fair share of State employment, if they can compete.
My Department has decentralised at least 15 jobs to Furbo under the present programme since I started. Ten jobs had already been decentralised there beforehand. The Coimisinéir Teanga's office was set up in the Gaeltacht rather than anywhere else.
Beimid ag dul go Gaoth Dobhair. I do not care how long it takes, I shall get there. It has been a long and wearisome road. We are making progress and it is slow, frustrating and so on, but we shall get there and I am not one to give up. On oideachas tríú leibhéal sa Ghaeltacht we can see the impact of third level education in Carna, Baile an Fhirtéirigh, an Cheathrú Rua and Gaoth Dobhair. An initiative that lifted Gaoth Dobhair considerably when it was at its lowest ebb, was when NUI Galway agreed to move in. There are enormous opportunities in this respect.
We said that if Irish is the first official language of the State, certain documents must be produced in Irish. We never worry about how much it costs to produce in the second official language the millions of pages and documents that often are not read. They are produced in reports of incredible length at a cost that no one ever worries about, but that is another day's work. However, there has been borradh mór fostaíochta sa Ghaeltacht de thoradh an Acht teanga, and in a quiet way, day by day. If someone destroyed it in the morning, many motions would be tabled about the loss of employment. All this is creating legitimate jobs to forward the national aim of promoting the Irish language, which is written into the Constitution.
I want to mention Acmhainní Nádúrtha. Look at Gradam Gnó na Gaeltachta, the big competition organised by Údarás na Gaeltachta. There is Earagail Éisc Teoranta shuas i Mín an Aoire, a company that has been there for years and provided fantastic employment, and ECC Teoranta, comhlacht a bhí baint agam lena bhunú. I was involved in setting up ECC when we called it TDS. It provided 200 jobs in Corr na Móna, which is a very remote rural area. Accordingly, Acmhainne Nádúrtha has a big part to play as regards adhmad, bia and éisc, and I should like to see tuilleadh acu sin because there is a growing small food sector. I should like to see more being done particularly i ngeall leis an bfharraige agus na rudaí sin ar fad. There are still significant opportunities in that respect.
The next item is rural recreation. We live in a country and in a Europe that is becoming very urbanised. Millions of people want rural leisure and when they come, they stay. They are not interested in driving through in a bus, in one end and out the other. They want to stay and walk the hills and mountains. We have not even started in this area in Ireland. There has been a great increase in numbers in recent years because of the work of Comhairle na Tuaithe. I think of tumadóireacht, diving and iascaireacht. An bhfuil aon áit níos fearr a d'fhéadfadh duine dul ag iascaireacht ná na ceanntair Gaeltachta — Loch Coirib, Loch Measc, na locha shuas i dTír Chonaill. Whether it be angling, walking or mountain biking, it is all there. I know Delphi is outside the Gaeltacht but I am there on Friday and there has been major investment there that has created 60 jobs. Again, we have the raw material but we have not developed it. In fact we have done nothing, but we have the raw material if we are willing to invest. These are the areas where no one can compete with us, or at least the competition is limited and we certainly have the best product.
The last asset I will mention before dealing with one other issue is the people. Perhaps I should have started with this, but it does not matter. I am not putting them in any order. Forget about the foreign direct investment. That is 1960s and 1970s talk — waiting for a company to come from some foreign land with special skills and locate in the Gaeltacht as a great new industry. That is not the game we should be playing. If they come, the jobs will go to the major third level towns. If one is abroad obviously one will look at somewhere one believes all the services are located.
However, there is a different pool of people in the Gaeltacht, more than 50% of whom get third level education. That is higher than the national average. Many of them are at the top end, in their 20s and 30s with jobs at the highest levels in factories and research institutes. A large number of those in their late 30s and 40s, if there is some change in lifestyle, would prefer to rear their children in a nice, safe atmosphere in the place they themselves grew up. They are not afraid to come and live 30 miles from the city because they know it is only down the road in their own country. There is a large pool of such people who come from the Gaeltacht. The idea of the Gaeltacht being poor, uneducated, with iascairí beaga is not representative. Tá cuid acu sin ann but that is not the new Gaeltacht. The new Gaeltacht is one of the best educated communities. These people are still coming home to play in matches and to be involved in their communities.
We should look at that resource as a huge potential for creating outreach stand-alone industries, an example of which is Éire Composites Teoranta i Ros a'Mhíl bunaithe ag Conchubhar Ó Brádaigh. Is fear le togha an oideachais, gur céimithe is mó atá fostaithe aige, agus atá ag cur an-fhostaíocht ar fáil san earnáil is airde. I understand they produce parts of the blades for windmills and the aerospace industry, and they are talking about laminates. They are creating some of the best products on the market and are competitive at a very high level, but the one thing they have is knowledge.
Selc Éireann Teoranta agus Rubber Mats i mBéal an Mhuirthead are two very successful companies which rose from the ashes when disaster hit them. Again, it was the people, the principals, who were committed to that area. They are not going anywhere when the stock market goes against them. They are staying. Again, they are at the high end of the market, particularly Selc. Saotharlann Chonamara Teoranta is in Ros Muc. It is doing laboratory work for people throughout the country, and again it employs mainly graduates.
These are the people we should concentrate on and we should play to our strengths. We should look at what we can do better than anyone else and be willing to change our policy to suit new requirements. There are also the cúntóirí teanga, the mná tí and all the other things we have mentioned to do with the language.
I have lived in the west for more than half of my life and I have been involved intimately in the creation of jobs. I know that despite the wide variety of third level skills young people in the Gaeltachtaí are getting, there is no way we are going to provide a job in every Gaeltacht matching every skill of every young person who grows up there. That is not possible and anyone who says it is in not living in the real world. However, there is an alternative and it goes back to what I said at the start about the bunstruchtúr and the bóithrí straitéiseacha, the strategic roads. It is very simple. I cannot create enough jobs to match all the skills of the young Gaeltacht people and I do not believe anyone else can. However, I can build good roads in and out of the Gaeltacht, for example, connecting Glencolumbkille at the far end of the Gaeltacht into Donegal by having a policy agreed with Donegal County Council that at the same time it would develop the road from Gaoth Dobhair into Letterkenny. It is much easier to get from Achill to Castlebar since the worst part of the road leading onto the island was improved. By creating a good road network, at least we can give an opportunity to people from Achill to get a job in Westport or Castlebar, to those from Connemara to get a job in Galway city, to those from Corca Dhuibhne to get a job in Tralee, to those from Gaoth Dobhair to get a job in Letterkenny and so on.
To keep those people living in the Gaeltacht, even if they are not all working in the Gaeltacht, means their children go to school or naíonra in the Gaeltacht, which creates jobs in the Gaeltacht. It is a legitimate strategy for maintaining the population, although many people in the past would have idealistically said the population should be totally self-contained. Can anyone name anywhere in Ireland that is any longer totally self-contained in employment terms and that matches all of the skills of all the people living in the community? I do not know of any such place. Even Dublin has many people travelling to and from it every day to work. I do not see why the Gaeltacht should be any different.
It is on those pillars I have built my strategy. It is what I have consistently said to Údarás na Gaeltachta about ministerial policy for creating jobs. If we follow all that, we will create many jobs which are sustainable into the future. We must look at a 2008 game rather than a 1960s game. Tá súil agam go dtugann sé sin léargas ar mo chur chuige mar Aire agus ar an bpolasaí mór agus ar na réimsí.
Having said all that, if someone arrives tomorrow from Tokyo, Beijing or anywhere else to offer 100 jobs for the Gaeltacht, I will not tell the chief executive or Brian Ó Domhnaill and his board to turn them away from the door. However, we should play to our strengths and these are the strengths on which I would focus.
I am glad the Minister has come to the committee. As it is late in the evening, I hope we can bring him back again because I would like to discuss in particular the recent reports on the Irish language and bilingual signs in the Gaeltacht. It is an issue on which I feel strongly and which I would like to discuss with the Minister in the committee.
We are here today, however, to discuss job creation in the context of the Minister's responsibility with Údarás. The Minister did not put the Gaeltacht areas in any order so I will not do so — we can talk about any of them. There is one thing in all Gaeltacht areas, namely, water, and one thing in all that water is fish. If one industry has been let down by all Governments, not just this one, it is the fishing industry. They have sold our fishing rights to every country but our own despite the fact there is water all around the country. The fishing industry could create many more jobs but fish is being taken from Ireland to be processed elsewhere when it should be processed here. We have sold our fishing rights.
Farmers in rural Ireland cannot fish, cut turf or farm. They are being regulated out of business. With regard to farming practices, the rural environment protection scheme is a good one which farmers are happy to join. However, they would prefer to produce and to remain in the farming business.
The single most important issue — infrastructure — is the Minister's responsibility, and I will give him credit where it is due and complain where it is not due. I visit my local Gaeltacht regularly and have seen the improvements in Tourmakeady, Erris and Achill. I was in Renvyle in the Minister's area recently for a weekend and I moved around to study the roads. The roads infrastructure is the one major improvement in that area which I love and enjoy visiting.
The one issue on which we have failed, and one the Minister must deal with, is broadband. The ESB, Eircom and whatever other bodies have had a licence or funding from Government to provide broadband in Gaeltacht and rural areas have failed. In every report one reads, it is the one service that is not available. The Minister referred to young people who want to live and work in rural and Gaeltacht areas. We can educate them all we want but people cannot operate from their homes in these areas. It cannot be done in the Dáil or in our constituency offices. Broadband is a necessary tool.
Another issue I want the Minister to address is that of natural resources. One of our best natural resources will come from Erris in the future, namely, gas. I am glad towns such as Ballina, Castlebar and Westport are on the pipeline. It is causing major disturbances on road routes at present but that is the price we must pay for progress. The people expect this and will put up with it until the gas arrives. Whether it is only a token, it must be shown that a natural product cannot be taken from an area without it being provided to that area. It does not matter about the cost; that area is where it is coming from.
We talk about Donegal, Kerry and Galway, and we talk about infrastructure. Erris will bring something to this State that we have never had before, our own natural gas. I hope it will keep us self-sufficient for many years to come. In return for that, the area is entitled to something. While this is not the Minister's area of responsibility, there is collective responsibility in Cabinet. I am in Erris regularly and see the juggernaut lorries overturned on the side of the road as a result of a car and a lorry meeting and not being able to pass. The time has come for the Minister to talk to his colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, so that the funding is put in place. The least the people of Erris should get from the gas is proper infrastructure. The road should be put in place for them now. There should be a Government commitment that as local people have suffered owing to the development connected with the gas, they will get infrastructure in return. Shell and any other company making a profit from the gas should also make a contribution towards this.
The Minister has done his job with regard to the islands which we will discuss in the context of the Estimates. This meeting is concerned with jobs, to which the Minister, Mr. Pádraig Ó hAoláin of Údarás, Senator Doherty and I have all referred. I disagree with some of what was said in that I believe a barrier still exists. It is an issue I want the Minister to re-examine and to discuss with Údarás.
Local people have come to me with ideas seeking support, help and grant aid. As the Minister said — he talked about Tom Duffy in regard to the rubber mats business — these people are not going away. They will stay and create employment in the Gaeltacht. I spoke to Mr. Noone recently. He is under pressure from other companies to relocate outside the country because of competition, costs and staffing. However, he is committed to the Gaeltacht. If he was from New York, Scotland or elsewhere, he would be gone, but he is committed to Erris and his workforce, to Mayo and to keeping the jobs there. The Minister has supported him over the years.
There are many others like Mr. Noone who are prepared to invest and take a risk. The Minister must put together a new package with Údarás to encourage people and let them know the Government is prepared to take a chance on them. If 50 are successful and 50 fail, that is fine, once we give all 100 people a chance. If the 50 who are successful create jobs, they will stay in Gaeltacht areas. Anyone living in the Gaeltacht who wants to create employment will stay there.
There is a barrier, as there is with IDA Ireland. I accept IDA Ireland has changed its policy and has an agency to deal with local, national and international areas. With regard to Údarás, we must admit its job record last year was good. We have gone through a difficult quarter and I hope we can maintain what we have. What happened with Contact 4 in Achill, Kerry and Donegal was a disgrace but Údarás was right to take the chance to the create employment. We listened today to what happened and why, but it is important we ensure we look after our indigenous people — those who are there to stay — and try to help and encourage them to set up small businesses. Small industries creating three or four jobs are as important as those with 100 jobs. If a company employing three people closes, there is less impact on the community than if 100 jobs were lost.
I hope we will have another discussion on the issues that have arisen today when it is time to consider the Estimates. There is more I would like to say but I will not do so now because we have been here since 4 p.m. I thank the Minister for attending the meeting and I hope he will return for the next discussion. We must have a debate on the Irish language that will include the issue of bilingual signs and so on. I will make the other points I do not have time to raise today when we discuss the Estimates.
I welcome the Minister and his officials and thank them for attending. The Minister has my absolute support for the rural recreation initiative to which he referred. The beauty of the Connemara Gaeltacht has been highlighted of late through Des Bishop's television show, "In the Name of the Fada". I have visited that area numerous times but it seems to look even better on television, if that is possible. It never looked so inviting. It is an ideal location for the development and promotion of rural recreation which will have a positive effect in terms of developing the Irish language. Throughout the State, in Kerry, Waterford, Donegal, Galway and Mayo, there are suitable areas for recreational activities and the associated development of the language.
In pursuing the development of rural recreation, I hope the Minister will ensure it does not become the Dublin 4 of recreational pursuits. It is incredible to imagine but in some rural towns, there are children who have never seen a cow. They have never been outside the town boundaries for various reasons such as the pressures on working parents and so on. That is a reality. The Minister will have the full support of the Labour Party in taking this project forward. I hope he will consider alternative means of bringing children to the west to engage in these recreational activities. Such an approach might have positive consequences in terms of the growing problem of childhood obesity and all the problems attached to that. Many children spend all day watching television and playing computer games. If I had my way, I would put a boot in every television set in the State so that children could enjoy the pleasure of outside play. I recall that competitions used to be held and grants made available to send children to the Gaeltacht. One does not see that anymore. An elitism has developed that can only prove unhelpful to efforts to develop the Irish language.
I support Deputy Ring's request for another meeting to discuss these issues. Having listened to the delegates from Údarás na Gaeltachta, we can see clearly the value of that body as a platform for the development of the Irish language. It is wonderful to attract industry to these areas because, in their absence, there may be a decline in population and everything that goes with that. The Minister's plan for rural recreation and the associated development of Gaeltacht areas is a winner if it can be implemented successfully. However, there is no use merely in picking at it; we must go at full throttle to ensure it is a success.
I hope the Minister will take steps to ensure the less well-off in society also have the opportunity to learn the language. There are several gaelscoileanna in my area. There are children attending these schools who cannot go to the Gaeltacht because their parents cannot afford to send them and there is no funding for that purpose. I hope the Minister will ensure, in the wider context of developing the Irish language, that such children are not forgotten. This must form part of the Minister's objectives in the context of the development of rural recreation and the continued developments in the commercial life of the Gaeltacht.
In recent years, there have been a large number of trade missions in which the Taoiseach and various Ministers have participated. I am not sure whether the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs took part in any of them. Were representatives of Údarás na Gaeltachta included in any of these trade groups? That organisation is unique in what it can do in terms of the promotion of Gaeltacht areas and in helping to create an image that makes a place that little better than its rival down the road.
This has been a very positive meeting with a great amount of goodwill from all involved. However, this must not be the end of it. I hope this is an issue to which we return regularly throughout the lifetime of this committee.
Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Chuir mé suim sa chur i láthair a rinne sé agus aontaím leis an mhórchuid a bhí le rá aige ó thaobh an dóigh a caithfimid dul chun tosaigh le fostaíocht a chruthú sa Ghaeltacht. Ní amháin fostaíocht atá de dhíth ach caithfimid seirbhísí sóisialta a chur ar fáil fosta do mhuintir na Gaeltachta. Tá moladh tuillte ag an Aire fá choinne cuid de na rudaí atá déanta aige go dtí seo. Luaigh sé Acht na teanga agus an tacaíocht do na meáin cumarsáide Gaeilge. Níl dabht ar bith ann, ó ghlac an tAire a ról sa Roinn seo, tá athrú suntasach le feiceáil, ach mar a deir baill an pháirtí, "Go leor déanta, agus go leor leor le déanamh san am amach romhainn."
Mar a dúirt an Aire cúpla seachtain ó shin ar Raidió na Gaeltachta, ní raibh an airgead á chaitheamh ar infrastruchtúr sa Ghaeltacht san am atá thart. Feiceann muid an athrú anois agus luaigh an Aire cuid de na bailte ina bhfuil athrú tagtha. Sin an legacy atá againn sa Ghaeltacht, nach ndearnadh Rialtais difriúla an infheistíocht san am a chuaigh thart. Táimid fágtha anois le infrastruchtúr nach bhfuil ar an leibhéal ceart. Tá sin le feiceáil ag duine agus é ag taisteal tríd aon Ghaeltacht. Is é an deacracht atá ann ná go dtógfaidh sé tamall fada le sin a chur i gceart.
Tá sé feicthe againn go bhfuil an Roinn ag caitheamh airgid ar an bhóthar ag ceangailt Gaoth Dobhair le aerfort Dhún na nGall bliain i ndiaidh bliana. Tá éileamh ar an bhóthar sin agus caiteachas á dhéanamh air, ach go fóíll níl an bóthar sin maith go leor. Tógfaidh sé blianta leis an bóthar sin a chur i gceart. Is mór an trua é nach bhfuil muid ábalta an airgead cuí a chaitheamh air ionas go mbeidh sé críochnaithe an bhliain seo chugainn. Tuigim go bhfuil constaicí airgid ag an Rialtas agus a leithéid.
Dúirt príomhfheidhmeannach Údarás na Gaeltachta nach raibh géarchéím fostaíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Ní aontaím le sin. Sílim go bhfuil géarchéim fostaíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Nílim ag rá go bhfuil mé ag fáil lochta ar Údarás na Gaeltachta mar go bhfuil géarchéim fostaíochta sa Ghaeltacht, ach tá dífhostaíocht i ceantair Gaeltachta againn, níos mó ná 20%.
Tá ceist agam le cur ar an Aire i dtaobh an céatadán dífhostaíochta. Déarfaidh mé seo i mBéarla. How high must the unemployment rate in Gaeltacht regions be before it is classified either by Údarás na Gaeltachta or the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs as a crisis? If the unemployment rate in parts of Dublin were to reach 18%, it undoubtedly would be described by IDA Ireland and others as a crisis. It is unacceptable that Údarás na Gaeltachta should deny the existence of an unemployment crisis in Gaeltacht areas. That said, were it not for Údarás na Gaeltachta and its focus on the Gaeltacht, matters would be much worse. Obviously, one must welcome the 1,000 jobs that have been created in the past year. Unfortunately however, almost the same number of jobs have been lost in that region.
I refer to the projections set out by the Government under the national development plan whereby 800 jobs are to be created annually in the Gaeltacht. This is an ambitious target which, given the economic circumstances, will be difficult for Údarás na Gaeltachta to achieve. This tells me, my family and friends who live in the Gaeltacht that, unfortunately, the Government's plans are to try to maintain the status quo. Government leaders should plan beyond that. One must aim to reduce unemployment levels in Gaeltacht regions to be on a par with those on the rest of the island, that is, an average unemployment rate across the State of 5% also should apply to Gaeltacht regions.
I do not accept the peripherality of Gaeltacht regions. They are peripheral only because they have been starved of the requisite infrastructure. They have been starved of the roads to connect them to other regions. My native region of Donegal is situated beside the fourth largest city, while those who live in County Galway are beside Galway city. Moreover, many advantages may be gained from living in rural communities. I cannot discern why infrastructure cannot be put in or investments made.
There has been much discussion on broadband and it is frustrating to be focusing on this issue at this late stage. Another two or three years will pass before its delivery across the Gaeltacht regions. At present, broadband is a requirement, just like electricity and water, for companies. While it must be provided, it is a thing of the past, rather than being at the cutting edge. There should be a move towards the adoption of next generation broadband. The Government has established an international forum to consider the introduction of next generation broadband to Ireland. It already is present in other countries, including China.
In this context, I refer to the desire to enable the Gaeltacht to compete. The Minister spoke of initiatives and the region's comparative advantages over other regions, such as the language, skilled professionals and the quality of life in rural communities. However, the introduction of infrastructural items, such as next generation broadband, to hubs within the Gaeltacht will enable the region to compete with any other region on this island, in Europe or internationally. The Minister, who possesses much foresight, should make a pitch to that Government forum to consider a pilot scheme whereby next generation broadband would be installed in one or two hubs within the Gaeltacht region. The provision of broadband will put the Gaeltachts on a par with other regions within this island. However, the provision of such next generation hubs would set them apart from every other region within the island, as well as from most regions within Europe.
While foreign direct investment will be a feature of the future, one should not be overly-reliant on it. I agree with the Minister that the focus must be on indigenous business. However, the infrastructure and conditions to facilitate foreign direct investment in Gaeltacht regions must be created. Enhancing their appeal will entail making available the same type of resources for foreign direct investment as are available in the cities.
There has been much discussion of Contact 4 and an observer of the joint committee might think it was the only company to close down in the Gaeltacht region in the past year. Unfortunately however, this is not the case. However, Contact 4 may offer a lesson. I refer not to the loss of jobs — the Government cannot compel a company to stay — but to how the workers were treated. Údarás na Gaeltachta, possibly through the auspices of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, should deal with companies that come to the Gaeltacht and should try to protect employees' rights in a better fashion than is the case at present.
As many companies go to the wall within the Gaeltacht region within a short space of time, people are not entitled to statutory redundancy because they had not worked for the requisite two years. Last year alone, one in every eight people who worked for an Údarás na Gaeltachta-sponsored company lost his or her job. This trend has been established for some years. People work in Údarás na Gaeltachta- sponsored companies that close down. Although Údarás na Gaeltachta then entices new companies to develop or indigenous companies to start up in the region, the workers are obliged to start all over again. Consequently the job prospects and development of employees in the Gaeltacht region are curtailed because they are unable to secure promotions within companies. This is a significant factor.
Moreover, many of the jobs sponsored by Údarás na Gaeltachta are low paid. While there are exceptions to that rule, many jobs were low paid, particularly in the past when the focus was on manufacturing. I concur with the Minister that the future lies in high skills and in entrepreneurs. While an entrepreneurial spirit exists within the Gaeltacht it is focused on people of my age group, who have left the Gaeltacht and who went to college. I refer to what happened ten years previously when, for example, my brothers went through the Údarás na Gaeltachta system, lost their jobs in factories in Gweedore and were obliged to emigrate.
The lesson from ten years ago and more is that people left school at a very early age. Such people, who may not even have finished the junior certificate cycle, let alone the leaving certificate cycle, went into factories and the manufacturing sector and have lost their jobs. They have emerged from those factories with few education skills. Some still have an entrepreneurial spirit and have plans to set up business within the Gaeltacht region. When they approach Údarás na Gaeltachta, it will confirm that such people will qualify for a grant. However, it also will specify that to do so, they must carry out steps A, B, C, D. E, F and G. In this context, someone told me recently that he does not know the number of paper clips he will use or the number of bulbs he will be obliged to replace in his office over the next year. While he does not know that, he knows the project on which he is working would be successful and that he would be able to provide employment for himself and others.
While this is not to detract from any of Údarás na Gaeltachta's officials, I asked Pádraig Ó hAoláin whether it could operate an agency that would provide a friendly face. It would do so by helping people to develop their business plans and everything that is necessary regarding matters such as audit accounts, projections and so on. This would be a hands-on process that would help local indigenous people to reach the point whereby Údarás na Gaeltachta could approve grant aid for them.
I will be brief. While I acknowledge Deputy Ring's comments on fishing, I still believe it has potential, particularly when one considers shellfish and so on. This should be exploited to a much greater extent. As the Minister with responsibility for rural development, I visit many small food producers who now are producing niche products of high quality for the market. This sector is growing by 10% per annum and amazing possibilities exist because people now lead different lives. While they eat canteen food from Monday to Friday, they then will spend money on a Friday evening for a meal at home. People who have experienced things abroad will pay the kind of money for food they would not have paid 20 or 30 years ago. Their eating habits have changed as can be seen from developments in restaurants and so on. Fantastic possibilities exist in this regard and one great advantage is that in many cases, it does not have to be high volume. I have seen organic ice creams and all sorts of other products, particularly along the coasts, such as seafood that is almost ready to be put on the table.
I always have had a particular view on leathanbhanda. I always have believed that were basic leathanbhanda, or broadband, to be rolled out in the Gaeltacht or any rural area, the companies that provided it would be astounded by the demand. I understand this to be the case where it has been installed. The companies in question cannot believe that such sparsely populated areas generate such a big demand. However, this is due to the high education attainments that are spoken of continually. Therefore, the first thing to do is to roll out the national broadband scheme fast. I acknowledge Senator Doherty's remarks on new generation broadband and I am anxious to avoid a similar time lag the second time round. However, I believe that were basic broadband to be provided, as was the case with mobile telephones, the companies themselves would realise they had a market they did not believe existed.
I take the point regarding the gas in Belmullet. All I can say is that I am working on that issue. As a basic principle, I have always believed that if a locality is used to provide a national service, it should derive some benefit therefrom.
Although the roads already have been discussed, I will make one further point. Many of the Gaeltacht areas on the west coast are served by national secondary routes such as the N56, the N59 and so on. Such routes have been included in Transport 21.We must transform a statement in Transport 21 concerning a major upgrade of the national secondaries into a reality from 2010 onwards. For example, the road from Mulranny to Westport, Tully to Leenane and back to Ballina and so on is a key road in County Mayo.
As Deputy Ring knows, Mayo is given approximately €800,000 in respect of class 2 and class 3 roads under CLÁR each year whereas Galway gets approximately €500,000. This year, I provided a two-option scenario. One could either spread the money around class 2 and class 3 roads around the county or pick an area and invest it all in any type of non-national road. It is open to Mayo County Council to decide, for example, to spend all of the €800,000 on the road from Castlebar to Belmullet, which needs every bob it can get for upgrades. If councillors decide to spend the money like confetti around the county, that is their call. If I had nominated the roads, I would have been in trouble in some counties. Sometimes, people must make a difficult choice.
Deputy Wall referred to daoine óga ag dul go dtí an Ghaeltacht. When we provided money from dormant accounts to the RAPID programme — every RAPID area, including Athy in the Deputy's constituency, has a discretionary fund — we mentioned that an option would be to sponsor young people visiting the Gaeltacht. However, I was surprised. Sports, winter coaching, summer camps and sending children to the Gaeltacht should have been high priorities, but those involved did not respond to me in that fashion. Sometimes when one gives people autonomy, one asks oneself whether the decision should be made for them. It is a difficult call. I was consulted in respect of initiatives that I would not have viewed as priorities, but those involved did.
Regarding the Irish colleges in the Gaeltacht and irrespective of the employment and money they attract, they comprise one of the greatest social phenomena. People from all parts of the country and all backgrounds in a controlled and safe environment are jumbled up together. Leaving the question of language aside and despite the importance of the colleges for the language, the social work done in mixing people from city, rural, rich and poor backgrounds has been fantastic. Countries without this element should create it. I will continue to re-examine how the situation operates — perhaps via partnerships — to ensure less well-off children can afford to visit the Gaeltacht. The valid point is taken.
While the level of unemployment presents an interesting question, I will not keep the committee all day. We have spent two hours on this matter, but we will return to it again. A part of Connemara has a high unemployment level, but Údarás na Gaeltachta received three applicants when it announced three job openings. It is easy to understand what occurred. Unfortunately, young people have gone away. They were not among the unemployed thanks to their educational chances and so on. The majority of unemployed people are small farmers and fishermen who are drawing some social welfare payments. Therefore, they were not, strictly speaking, searching for factory jobs or the types of job Údarás na Gaeltachta creates.
This situation presents a twofold problem in that those we should have kept are gone and those in respect of whom we registered high levels of unemployment in Belmullet and west Connemara are not unemployed in the sense Senator Doherty means, namely, employment created by Údarás na Gaeltachta. The jobs they want are on the rural social scheme, RSS, the community employment scheme, etc., through which they can commit to part-time farming or fishing. Deputy Ring will admit that, in many places, the RSS has been the icing on the cake to make lives easier for people and families who have reasonable incomes from fishing and farming. While those incomes were not comfortable, the RSS pushed the people over the threshold.
We must consider people as they are. Sometimes when we analyse what we believe people want, we do not consider them in our statistics or what they want rather than what we want for them. If I was ever thanked for anything I have done, it was by those working in the RSS who view it as a long-term way of sustaining their livelihoods, bringing them from subsistence levels to over the average industrial wage in many cases. We must be creative in terms of reducing the number unemployed in that sector because there is much unemployment in it, but many people fall into that category. We must discuss how to bring back those who are not on the unemployment register because they are no longer in the areas in question. Údarás na Gaeltachta will never reduce unemployment levels to the 5% in those areas. Even were one to create 1,000 jobs tomorrow, many in the sector in question will remain unemployed.
There is a certain amount of inevitability, for which reason I am discussing job creation and the economy rather than just Údarás na Gaeltachta. Taking Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and Údarás na Gaeltachta, the number of industrial jobs in the economy is not increasing. The 1 million extra jobs were not in that sector. It is holding approximately steady because machinery means that the same number of people can produce more. Job numbers here, in America and everywhere else increased in the services sector. However, one needs a production economy to support services. We must use Údarás na Gaeltachta to sustain a viable economy and ensure that rural areas, including Gaeltachtaí, get their fair share of service jobs, which are often not grant-aided and, consequently, not seen in job creation agencies. Whether one is a múinteoir or cúntóir in a scoil or an aistritheoir who never received a grant, one still has a job.
Until the last census, Rosmuck had the highest consistent population decrease. Canvassing there 20 years ago was heartbreaking because of the old people in poor houses. People in the area built a football pitch and a few halls and got the spirit of the place going. With improved roads, they were within commuting distance of elsewhere. When we were last there, it was amazing to see the change, such as lovely houses with two cars or three cars. A local told me that 100 cars leave Rosmuck for work every morning. Given that those cars contain more than one person each — for example, families — it means that more children are attending day care centres and schools. Jobs were created because people needed certain services within their community. For this reason, people in the commuter belt are important. I will give an interesting statistic. Between the two previous censuses, a period of four years, Rosmuck's population increased by 11%, much of it due to construction in the commuter belt and so on. I have no problem with this, as jobs are also being created within Rosmuck. For example, the school has extra teachers, there are additional services, the crèche, etc. What I call the jobs outside and access to them sustain the jobs inside.
It is a question of determining every method. When I worked in the co-operative 30 years ago, there were hang-ups about creating jobs. For example, jobs would have been created for Deputies Ring and Wall and Senator Doherty. However, I used to say that I did not see the situation in that way. Rather, the co-operative, through the coláiste Gaeilge and employment in the co-operative, the timber mill, farming activities and so on, added to one's income to create viable household incomes. Many households had two incomes or three incomes to create viability instead of one job and one income. If something went slack, one had something on which to fall back. In rural Ireland, significant potential remains for the viable household income approach. In Achill or Belmullet, many people have some land or do some fishing from which they earn a few bob. They may have a job that, while not the greatest in the world, provides an income. They have a much better lifestyle than the comparable person in the city on the same income because of all the extras from tourism. We should examine every avenue and opportunity. Any job is a major help. Bringing a family from an income of €30,000 to €40,000 is a great help because it results in a major change in their lifestyle.
I welcome debates on the issues the Deputy has mentioned, as well as policy issues in my Department. The committees can add much. Members have much wisdom between them and I always welcome an oppurtunity to appear before the committee. In the previous Dáil we did not engage enough. My Department has a major remit and I look forward to the Estimates debate but we should also give some time to agreeing a range of subjects across my Department to discuss. The committee may wish to bring outsiders to appear before it, but I am willing to appear at any time to explain what I am doing from a policy point of view. This would build on bringing outsiders before the committee to build on our store of wisdom and use the Oireachtas properly.
We will take the Minister up on that proposal.
The joint committee adjourned at 7.30 p.m. until 4.15 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 April 2008.