First, I want to say a word of appreciation to yourself, a Chathaoirligh, for allowing me to raise such a very fundamental matter on the Adjournment.
I am suggesting that we ask the Minister through the Government to ask the EC to change the status of this disadvantaged area of Connemara, severely handicapped as it is, to the new status of a mountain region for all of the peninsula of Connemara. Under the rules of this House I will try to make the case for this important matter. In saying that I am at a disadvantage — but we must accept it — that I do not know what the Minister is going to say until I have finished. However, I will make the case as I see fit as to why I should ask for this very important decision to be made.
It is one of the most important matters that has ever come before this House. It concerns emigration and the depopulation of a most beautiful part of our country which enshrines the heritage of our national language and culture. If something is not done rather rapidly about the depopulation problem there will be in the very near future areas of land with no habitation at all. I want to suggest to the Minister and to the Government that it is most important that they immediately make those proposals to the EC to change the status of this severely handicapped area of Connemara to that of a mountain region.
I would like to make the case for so doing on comparisons that are available to me. The comparisons that I have are only those that are available in a general way: I am sure the comparisons the Minister can find are of far greater depth than mine. However, feeble as mine may appear to be, they are still very fundamental. There is an area in the south of France with which I make a comparison. It is a place called the Cantal. It is a region which has a population of approximately 166,650 people and covers 2,231 square miles. It has been declared and is functioning as a mountain region. As for comparisons between what is viable in the mountain district and in Connemara, the case for Connemara is quite distinctly in line for change.
The Connemara district I speak about is approximately 718 square miles and it has a population of approximately 28,500 people. According to the census of 1971 to 1981 in all the rural district electoral divisions the population drop was approximately 10 per cent. Since then the population drop has been even more rapid in the parts of Connemara I speak of. If the present situation is not changed, massive areas of Connemara will become severely depopulated in the future. What a tragedy that would be for this country.
I make the comparison between the Cantal and Connemara because the Cantal, as I said, is a mountain region. If it has succeeded in being designated a mountain region — and I do not begrudge it that because there are hardships there — I think the case for Connemara is outstanding. For example, the population per square mile works out at about 74.7 in the Cantal, whereas the population of Connemara works out at 41.78. The average size of holdings in the Cantal is about 90 acres per unit and in Connemara it is about 106 per unit. But, of course, as the Minister is well aware, 80 per cent of the land held in Connemara is in commonage. That is a major handicap and always has been and always will be.
The total number of holdings in the Cantal is 10,750, whereas in Connemara it is only 4,303. Other factors which are comprable show that in Connemara the rainfall is 100 inches per annum and that the length of the growing season is about five and a half months, whereas it is about six months in the Cantal. Then the fundamental difference comes in. There are 23,600 arable hectares in the Cantal, whereas there are only 1,251 arable hectares in Connemara. It is known that at a height of approximately 3,000 feet in the Cantal maize, barley and other crops are sown in arable land. The comparison with Connemara speaks clearly for itself because, as we are quite well aware, not alone is our land not arable, but in parts it is not even accessible. Where it is accessible the slopes and the inclines from the mountains are so severe that, even with the assistance of good fertilisation programmes, access for the purpose of grazing would be difficult. So, if we can have included a mountain region with arable land growing barley and maize and other farming products in a part of the south of France, surely there must be a strong case for including a part of Connemara at 3,000 feet which is not even accessible.
We must take into account also the question of milk production. It is well known that 77 per cent of the milk of that region in the south of France comes from the Cantal area. In addition they have the unique benefit that there is no superlevy applying in a mountain region area. Regrettably, in the Connemara region there are 13 or 14 farmers producing 0.4 of 1 per cent of the milk of the area, which is very small. While those facts speak for themselves, there may be other reasons that I am not aware of as to why the Cantal has been successful in its claim and Connemara has not.
The hazards in Connemara are not the same as in the Cantal. For example, the average number of days with no sun is 37 in the year in the Cantal and 69 in Connemara. The average daily temperature in Connemara is 9º centigrade and in the Cantal it is 15º. This bears out the fact that in Connemara there are 1,200 hours of sunshine in the year and in the Cantal there are 2,061 hours per year. In giving these statistics I am pointing out that while the Cantal was lucky enough to get mountain region status, it does not compare as regards the necessity for a change of status with the Connemara region.
While it can be said that the severely handicapped areas of Connemara were nourished and helped by headage payments and the other schemes from which severely handicapped areas benefited, the problem now is that the disadvantaged areas were extended and the money was not extended to the same degree and therefore the amount of payments made to our severely handicapped areas, taken individually, has diminished. Hence there is urgent need for change in this area.
Taking 718 square miles out of the disadvantaged areas and putting them into the mountain region classification would allow the Government to extend the other severely handicapped areas slightly, particularly in north and south County Galway where an extension is needed, as the Minister is well aware, so that equality would prevail right across the whole of the disadvantaged areas in regard to payments and assistance. I think that is a good point to make. The Deputies and Senators from this area are harassed year after year on the area divisions that are made and the drawing of lines between what is "in" and what is "out" of the disadvantaged areas.
The benefits of the change in status of Connemara would mean quite a lot. For example, from the Cantal figures which are available, new buildings and farm development would get a 25 per cent direct cash grant; there is available a 15 year term loan for buildings and equipment at 3½ per cent; there is a nine year loan for purchase of quality livestock and husbandry which is available at 4 per cent; there is a further seven year loan for machinery at 4 per cent. Headage subsidies continue to apply in Cantal at the same level as in the severely handicapped areas. This would of course also apply in Connemara.
What would be fundamental to Connemara is the development agency in the Cantal known as La Somival dealing with tourism, argiculture, light industry and irrigation. A similar development agency could be set up in Connemara which would carry the functions I have mentioned, which are appropriate to the region. We could add fisheries and forestry, the national language, culture and heritage to that agency. All these could develop together within one single entity. Without any great cost we could put together an integrated plan which could be submitted through the local authority, the Galway County Council, to the Government agencies and from there, with the assistance and help of the Minister, to Brussels. The cost of this would not be extraordinary to the State and it would bring tremendous benefits to the Connemara region which needs them very urgently.
The first result one might expect from the change of status of Connemara would be that it would stem the massive emigration from the region. This is something which has got to be taken on board immediately. All the other schemes, while they have been beneficial initially, have petered out to the extent that people cannot make a living there. This would encourage those living at home, who are highly skilled and educated, to live in the knowledge that there was a future for them in this mountainous region; the efforts that could be made by them, particularly in the areas of fisheries and forestry would be rewarding. One has to take on board also the fish farm products and projects which are now part of the scene in the heart of Connemara. Wonderful progress has been made in the development of oysters, lobsters and all the different shellfish in the laboratories in Carna, headed by Galway University Fisheries Research Laboratories in conjunction with the ESB and other companies. This is spearheaded by the most renowned Professor O'Keady, whose contribution to shellfish farming, salmon farming and indeed all types of fish farming, is unique and recognised internationally. This is something which we have not yet harnessed and it is something further which could be of benefit to the region. It is a development which could be nourished and cherished under the mountain status scheme which I propose here today.
The roads in Connemara are the bane of life to public representatives in County Galway; they are the bane of life to the people who have to live there today and the many tourists who have to try to tumble over them during the tourist season.
All in all, this is a new idea emanating from the Connemara region. Some years ago the Joint Committee on EC Legislation had adopted a broader stance taking into account a much larger area. I do not know what happened to that report. There was unanimity at the time on that proposal when it was taken to Brussels. Recommendations were made but I believe no action was taken in this area since. I am not here to foster that proposal. The Minister, as a Galwayman, who understands the district, can see before his eyes the denuding of Connemara and the situation that exists there today. It is the heritage point of the country. We must take it as a symbol not only of what is known not alone locally as the fostering of the language — which is of vital importance — but of the existence of our people who speak it and their right to live comfortably.
I boldly suggest to the Minister and to the Government that forthwith they should set up a distinctive section in the Department to which this programme could be referred. They will have all the assistance of the different organs of the State, and private enterprise in Connemara will lend all their support in the preparation of this proposed programme. I commend it to the Government.
