Minister Ring takes on rural affairs task

The crippling effect of bureaucracy on rural development has been highlighted, as new Minister for Community and Rural Affairs Michael Ring takes up office.

Bureaucracy and a lack of empathy at senior Civil Service level are the main choking points cutting off help for rural Ireland, warns Paddy McGuinness, former chairman of the Western Development Commission (WDC), the body charged with promoting, fostering and encouraging economic and social development in counties Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Galway and Clare.

“Rural decline will become a major issue like the housing issue if we do not address it now and deal with it,” Mr McGuinness told last week’s meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

He added: “The problems of rural Ireland and balanced regional development do not rate highly at all, at any level.”

The former WDC chairman recently said there is no commitment to balanced regional development, nor any plan to redress rural decline.

Refuting it at the time, Mr Ring said, “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Invited to address last week’s Oireachtas Committee meeting on Sustaining Viable Rural Communities, Mr McGuinness welcomed the appointment of Mr Ring as the new senior Minister for Community and Rural Affairs, but also reiterated his warnings of rural decline.

He said: “I deliberately made it public that I had asked former Minister of State Michael Ring not to consider me for re-appointment to the position of chairman of the Western Development Commission, WDC.

“I did it deliberately because I wanted to draw attention to my perception of the situation,” said Mr McGuinness.

He revealed the “final straw” for him as WDC chairman was that, mistakenly or otherwise, €2 million allocated from the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas was put into a capital fund.

“The Western Development Commission, WDC, could not use the money because we had no wish to buy anything of a capital nature. I spent the last 18 months of my term there as chairman trying to have that moved from capital expenditure to current expenditure.

“That has not happened to date.”

Since the WDC was established in 1997, an estimated 2,500 jobs have been created directly in 135 businesses which it invested more than €48 million in (including €34m of exchequer funding).

But Mr McGuinness said there was no board in place for three months after his appointment, and there has been no board in place since February.

“There are applications from businesses in the region looking for support from the Western Development Commission and jobs are at stake, but until a new board is appointed, no decision can be made on any applications.”

He said the non-pay allocation for staff was reduced from €1.5 million in 2008 to €0.5 million in 2015, the staff number has fallen from 17 to 11, and the CEO position has been vacant for five years.

“There is no great indication of any great commitment to the organisation,” he said.

P2 Comment: the task facing new Minister for Community and Rural

Affairs Michael Ring