Concerns raised over ‘slowdown’ in delivery of public transport in Louth rural areas
Louth TD Paula Butterly spoke on the subject in the Dáil during a recent debate on the future of rural Ireland
Concerns have been raised over the “slowdown” in the delivery of public transport in rural parts of County Louth.
Louth Fine Gael TD Paula Butterly spoke on the subject in the Dáil during a recent debate on the future of rural Ireland.
Deputy Butterly said: “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.”
She went on to say that the Government also has work to do when it comes to the delivering of housing in rural areas.
“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.”
Deputy Butterly continued by also outlining the needs of older people that need to be met.
“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.”
However, she refuted comments from the Opposition, who claimed that the Government has failed rural Ireland.
“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.”
Deputy Butterly concluded by saying that the existence of such schemes do not point to the failure of rural Ireland but to its success.