Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice says that the Government are “putting the cart before the horse” when it comes to rural renewal.
The Independent TD said “Spending money on the village and town renewal scheme that was announced earlier this week is very welcome but we are putting the cart before the horse and our priorities on the way to tackle rural regeneration are not in the right order.”
Michael Fitzmaurice continued “Earlier this week a constituent of mine rang me with a query, and she had to go to the bottom of her garden to get a mobile phone signal to make the call. It is that kind of thing that we have to tackle if we want to be serious about rural renewal. How could any new or existing business operate without a proper mobile phone signal, never mind a broadband service?
Announcing €10 million of spending, that includes a sum of €4 million already announced, is fine and makes for great headlines but that will not address the serious infrastructural problems that exist in rural Ireland in so many different areas. If we don’t get serious about rural renewal then we can forget about it altogether” he concluded.