Éamon Ó Cuív urges RRDF for Western Rail and Ulster Canal

The first question I have relates to the RRDF. There is an idea floating around that we need to do something really strategic with that money. It is quite a significant amount of money over a number of years. One of the ideas we are exploring is that an application would be sent in under the RRDF by Mayo and Galway County Councils to part fund the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor. We know the RRDF funding has already been applied or made available for a passing loop between SRI and Galway, so it seems railway lines are out of the reckoning. And can I say to you further, Minister, I would be totally supportive of you using the same process, not for railway lines in Monaghan, but for the Ulster Canal. I do not know if you have got any RRDF money for the Ulster Canal, but I certainly think it is the kind of strategic development we need in rural Ireland. If we are talking about rural development, this is it. This is it on a big scale. I think we can be doing town renewal and all the rest until the cows come home, but it will not have the impact of some of the bigger infrastructure projects like the Ulster Canal, which you know I am a great supporter of, and the railway line connection that the Minister of Transport is fairly reluctant to let go. But if we could use some of our call here as Galway and Mayo County Councils make the pitch that this is what the priority of the people are on the ground, I was wondering what the attitude of you and your department would be. The second one I would like to raise with you is CLAR funding. Do you intend widening the number of programmes there? Because it is fairly constrained at the moment. In particular, and I have made this point to you before, there was a group order top-up scheme. Basically what it did was where you got groups of houses that still do not have a reliant on wells and so on, that they could join up with public schemes. You sometimes get into more remote areas, 5, 10, 15 houses that were never joined up to any scheme. There was a top-up scheme there previously. It was very effective in making these affordable and giving price certainty. I was wondering would you look at reopening that. My next question relates to LIS. Can you let us know when the applications, when the allocations will be made to the councils and to be told to get the applications in? I do not know why it does not happen in the back end of the year rather than the beginning of the year, once the budget is fixed. But even now, can you tell us when people can apply to the councils? The second thing is, this committee recommended last year that the farmer rule be abolished. Because the farmer rule for the LIS relates to an Ireland that no longer exists. The vast majority of people in rural Ireland, because there are an awful lot of people in rural Ireland, you have only 120,000 herd owners. So only about 10% of the people are farmers. Thankfully we have diversified economies and we always had diversified economies. Because when you look back in the 19th century even, you had the Great Sea, you had the Shoe Nair, and you had all the different people with the different professions living out in the countryside. So, Minister, would you consider getting rid of that anachronous rule in relation to farmers being required for that scheme? In relation to the islands, I have a number of questions. The first question is, I see the capital money has gone up to £4.644 million, which you would welcome. But behind the figure there is a story. I presume that that was to commence the work on Innesia Peer. But what I am hearing now is due to for sure licences, that is not going to happen. So what I want to know is, what are you going to do with that money to make sure it is spent on the islands? Because I am told that there is a new environmental process to be going through. Now this is for a peer that got planning permission in 2008. It had me head done in. But if it is not going ahead, if it is going ahead, I clap you. If you have broken that crack, crack that nut. But if it is not going ahead, can we spend the money on something else and not give the money back and carry it over at the end of the year? Similarly, there is a need to put fire under at every level to make sure that these peers progress fast. And that Innesian, as well as that, progresses fairly fast. Minister, my annual plea to you. There is a fine airstrip in Innes-Bafin. There is one in Clegan. The cost of providing the service from a Naminne to Clegan and Bafin would be about, I am told, 600,000 a year. Which in the greater scheme of what you are spending on islands is not an awful lot of money. And I was wondering would you consider providing that necessary link. Because, as I point out time and again, Innes-Bafin is a lot, lot further from Galway. A lot further out than either of the Iron Islands. And you know the advantage on the Iron Islands of the air service. You have availed of it. And you know how handy it is. Can you imagine, it takes, you know, an hour and a half, two hours to drive to Clegan. And then you have to get a 40 minute boat. The plane could have you in Minne, where you got the plane from. The plane could have you in Minne, about 20, 30 minutes. So, Minister, for a very modest fear, because the boat, the aeroplanes are there. The servicing is doing all the things are there. The pilots are there. They are not busy all day. Would you consider going ahead and making Innes-Bafin air service operable based from the Minne, so that you are doing it on an additional cost basis? In relation to the Clegan airstrip, I understand there is an application in which your department, to come to some arrangement with your department in relation to using part of the site in Clegan for a museum of transatlantic history. Now, this relates to Alcock and Brown. It will be a great attraction in Connemara. It will bring people into the Clegan Peninsula. And I was wondering, could you arrange for your officials to meet the people who have contacted the department in that regard and see what the possibilities of progressing this are? The final point I would make. The broadband hubs are fine. I hear what you are saying about remote working. Danny, I do agree with you that not everybody wants to work at home all the time. I think particularly if you live in a smaller house in an urban setting, that is going to become a very, very big issue. In rural areas, at least, most people have a half acre site, so they can find some corner to put an office in that is a little bit more remote than you would do in the three bed standard urban dwelling. But that said, they are important. But I think we have to stress again here, even though it is not directly under your remote remit, but it is related to this thing about the temporary broadband hubs while we are waiting for the rollout of broadband. What the people want, in the first place, is fibre in the houses. And I hope you carry that message clearly back to your cabinet colleagues, that, you know, it is something out in the school, it is a straw instead of a brush, and you know straw wouldn't clean the floor too well, to be telling them, well, you've got your broadband hubs. They are not interested in that, they are interested in remote working, they are interested in using hubs on occasions, but the number one demand from adults and from children and from old people is fibre into the home. For the adults it is for work and for pleasure, for the young people it is for study and for pleasure, and for the older people it is for pleasure. And in many cases it is also because of the new technologies that, you know, if people fall and whatever, there are cameras, there are all sorts of things that mean that you can look after your elderly people and you could be on the other side of the world. So, Minister, I beg you, will you see what you can do to persuade your colleagues that you just have to get this done faster than it has been done at the moment. Mr. Minister, do you want to respond to one or two questions there, that David O'Queeb has raised, I am sure he will come back if there are any of them that are not addressed. I was just going to say that, if I miss one, come back to me, but I will try and cover them as best I can. Well, first of all, the Rural Regeneration Development Fund, and we have been funding a lot of town centre projects and we have been funding enterprise centres and we have been funding the restoration of old buildings and we have, you know, different infrastructure within towns on that. Take your point, Deputy, about the Western Rail Corridor and I'm sure it will make a huge difference to Mayo and to Galway. And the only thing here is that some of this would be massive expenditure. And if I allocated my funding all to a major project like that, I had very little left for anything else. But I do know that it's something that we can work with other departments. And for example, you mentioned the Ulster Canal and I was delighted that we were able to announce funding of 13 million for the Ulster Canal. And that was some money from this department and some money from the Shared Island Fund. So again, it's about working together. It's a bit like the outdoor recreation and the active travel and all the money because this is, as you know, you'll appreciate this department. It's a big, we have big ambition, but we don't have a massive budget. But when you look at maybe the Department of Transport, they have a lot of money. And only two weeks ago there was 280 something million announced for active travel. So that's nearly, that's in excess of my capital budget in this department. So it's about how we can, we can move that, move in that direction. We do have under the Rural Regeneration Fund, what we call measure, measure two, which is providing the funds to put the plans together. So maybe that's something where we could help. So that puts the big picture and the proposal in place. And then you can look maybe to the, some of the other departments that have, that are in that space of transport, which is of course the Department of Transport on the rail, to see could they come up with funding for those projects. So we do have that joined up approach there. In terms of the CLARA funding, last year I did extend it. There were three categories. I brought up to four categories. I am looking at it myself. I'm looking at it now with my officials, I should say, to look to see, is there any other areas that, that we, we can tap into. Again, in terms of the water and the sewerage, but particularly the water, Irish water have responsibility. I'm very familiar with the rural water schemes. Believe it or not, I am one of those people that fall between two water schemes. One, a group water scheme and one, a county council water scheme, which is now owned by Irish Water. And I have a well in the middle. So I do know how you're talking about, Deputy. But again, any investment in water is should, it's in the space of the Department of Housing. And I'd be pushing them to look for those grants for this, particularly for the community schemes to extend it where people want to get, want to connect into it. Because these wells are fine when there's plenty of water. But in the summertime, a lot of them have no water. And I'm very conscious of what you're saying. So I don't know if I could do something to give them a prod in the right direction. The local improvement scheme. I know, Deputy, that this is something that you said the farmer rule should be abolished. Well, I'll be quite honest with you. If I could clear some of the lists that we have right across the country first, I'll certainly look at it. But again, these are roads. You know that I increased the budget this year. And under the LIS scheme, we have 11 million. Last year, I topped that up with an extra. We brought it up to 22 million. I know that was welcome across the country. And it did clear some of the backlog. But there's a serious backlog still. And if we could break the back on that, I'm certainly be happy then to look at expanding it further. But if I expand it now, I don't know what kind of a list I'll have. Just going on to the islands. We have a number of the islands you mentioned a bit in each ear pier. And I said that it's expected that work will commence in late 2022. And the 2 million in additional capital funding has been allocated in this context for 2022. The application for a foreshore licence has been made as part of the preparatory work for the tendering stage. And Galway County Council have informed the department that after meeting with officials in that unit, that updated surveys need to be carried out. Subject to the pre-construction issues being finalised, a preliminary timetable has been discussed by the Development Committee, providing for a tendering process of approximately nine months after which construction will advance in stages. The finalised plan is likely to take a number of years to complete, taking into account weather and sea conditions. And the cost to date of the initial year pier development since the commencement of the project in 2004 is €978,713, and the estimated cost of the project at present, barring any unforeseen circumstances that may arise, is approximately €20 billion. And I am committed to it. And as you know, Deputy, I did visit the islands and I was delighted you were with me when I went to them last year. And I saw firsthand, and as I said, we're committed to moving this on. But just at this point in time, I think it's just with Galway County Council and we need to keep the pressure on and keep moving it. In relation to the pier at Inish Man, as part of the preparatory works, the National Maritime College, as you know, were instructed by Galway County Council to develop a model simulation for the harbour. And that will inform the business case options for the development because it's very hard to get agreement on how this work should be done. But we're working with these guys down in Cork to try and decide what is the best way because there was a lot of money spent in the past. It didn't work. So we have to try and figure out what way it should be done. And I met you yourself that day. And indeed, among the locals, they're not all sure of what way they should go. So as I said, the experts should be able to give us a good idea as to what we need to do there. Just going on, you mentioned about the Inish Boffin Air Service. Now, I'll have to come back to you on that. As far as I know, there's no plans for an air service from Inish Boffin. And look, the department will keep in touch with the community, read the transport services to ensure the islands have access. But if you're telling me it's a two and a half hour drive when it could be made a lot shorter, I take on board what you're saying. Just regarding the Clegan airstrip, I have met these gentlemen on a number of occasions. In fact, most recently last week, I met one of them when I just happened to bump into them or they bumped into me maybe. And I was chatting to them and they gave me their proposals again for the second time because I have met with them. The department officials also met with the OPW and the Department of Transport recently to discuss plans for the Coast Guard station. And you mentioned that and this does need to get full consideration before any further discussions on plans for the museum. So we need to deal with, you know, the Coast Guard situation first to be clear on that. But I'm happy that officials will meet them again just to get an update. And I take that, you know, that it is a good idea to put this museum in place. But as you know, you know the history of this Clegan airstrip a lot better than me, Deputy. But I think that we did pay fairly substantial money when we bought it in the first place. And, you know, we have to obviously be aware of the taxpayers investment in that if we were going to release part of that property in any way. But look, I think there's a bit of work to be done on that. Just then, fibre in houses, you're right, you're right there. But we have the plan and the broadband, the contract signed, they're out there. Covid, of course, has had some impact. But I know that across government, we are committed to rolling this out as quickly as we can. And no matter how quick we do it, it still won't be quick enough because everybody wants it. And when do we want it? We want it now. But as an interim measure, that's why I put in the broadband connection points. At least it gives some people that don't have either broadband or indeed some of the mobile phone coverage that they would have something. And as you know, we have reconstituted the mobile and broadband committee. I just have the name at the top of it, I think in a minute. But anyway, we've reformed that committee and we're going to look at a number of whatever the roadblocks are in terms of how we can move it on as quickly as we can. And that's from our. Now, just in terms of the DRCD schemes, you know, I would be announcing them shortly. But what I'm going to do is we're going to give the schemes to be opened earlier in 2022 to support the most efficient use of funds in communities across the country. And it's also intended to shortly publish the schedule of schemes in order to allow local authorities plan for the preparation of submissions and full information as to the entire suite of schemes schemes that we have. So we have a lot of different schemes. So what I want to do is say, right boys, there's the suite of them. And whether you, you know, decide what projects fit into which ones and, you know, make your plans based on that. So because sometimes they're saying, well, we didn't know this one was coming. And so we're going to do it together. We do it. It'll be very much a giant up announcement this year. So I think I have covered all your questions. And if there's any more, I'm happy to answer them. Thank you. DEPUTY O'Qui, supplement your question. DEPUTY O'Qui, supplement your question. DEPUTY O'Qui, what I would have in mind in relation to DRRDF, because I believe in taking one step at a time, would be an application from Mayor Galway that would go about once and for all getting a full survey done of the railway line and ascertaining the exact work that has to be done from an engineering point of view, all of the things, so that we would have an exact and accurate budget, because there are figures flying around the place that have 60 and 70 million. Now, nationally, it's a very small project. The big cost or the higher cost things are in around 200 million. There are low costs that are much lower than that 140, 150 million. But what would be very useful is to do the survey, to actually have a physical plan. We'll allow that to cost a few million to do. There's a bridge that TII already have money put aside to put back, that could be put back. And if we could get that much in place, I think that the rest would follow. And there might be, you know, modest enough top-up, but I have found quite modest top-up funding for departments is a great, as you know, carrot. I really admire what you've done on the Ulster Canal. I think it shows the kind of ingenuity that I'd like to see applied now to the Western Rail Corridor. So that when you leave the department, you can say, I made the Ulster Canal happen, and I made the Western Rail Corridor happen. I facilitate it, because without my input, the line departments might not have done the job. Mr. Minister. Thank you, Deputy. In fairness to you, I have to say, you started the Ulster Canal. And if I could get it well on its way, I'd be very happy. These things do take a long time, but we have Measure 2 of the Rural Regional Development Fund. We have that, and so I would say that is the type of funding that this Measure 2 is targeted at. It is about doing the groundwork. It is about looking at the cost. It is about finding out what work needs to be done and carrying out the service. So I would say to you, put in that application when it is open again to Measure 2 to the RRDF. Obviously, it has to stand up on its own merits. Every application does. But I think that is the place where it needs to go, and we should do that. Mr. Minister. My last question. When you are opening Measure 2? I know there are a lot of deputies from... Mr. Minister. Sorry. I will have Measure 1 is open at the minute. Measure 2 was announced after Christmas. I will be opening Measure 2 later on in the year, probably August or September. Mr. Minister. For applications. Mr. Minister. Sorry. Just a second. I will double-check. Sorry. I am going to be doing a schedule for all the schemes now very shortly, so everybody will see exactly when they can apply, but I think it will be around August that we will be doing a little bit more than a month or two. So, they can start getting their plans together. I do not feel the months have gone in. It takes a while to pull together all the different strands to put in a good application. Mr. Minister. Thanks, Minister. Deputy Mayor. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister. Mr. Minister.