Government ‘devoid of vision for society’  

BY
ELLA O’DWYER

The Rural Development and Agriculture section of Sinn Féin’s Ard Fheis last Saturday was chaired by Kerry County Councillor Toiréasa Ferris. General election candidate for North Tipperary, Councillor Seamus Morris, a postman, addressed Emergency Motion 1 opposing the proposed closure of rural post offices.
“Charlie McCreevy and his cronies want to see the postal services market in Europe fully opened to competition by 2009”, he said. “The implications of this liberalisation agenda should not be underestimated and with the leaking of the bad news of a possible closure of 500 post officers we now need to protect An Post’s Universal Service Obligation.”
He said that “the universal service obligation guaranteed that all citizens could receive mail five days a week at the same price irrespective of location in conjunction with easy access to a postal outlet”.
Condemning the ongoing decline in rural services Morris said: “This government is completely devoid of any vision of where we’re going as a society.”
Martin Ferris TD expressed alarm at what he described as the destruction of rural Ireland.
“I’m proud to come from a vibrant rural community – an open and vibrant environment  – growing up there shaped my future”, he said.
Ferris condemned what he called the “attempted criminalsiation of the fishing industry” through legislation introduced last year on salmon drift net fishing. “Drift net fishermen have had their livelihoods taken away by a government that has literally walked away and abandoned them. The government are destroying the fishing industry and then, to add insult to injury, they offered the fishermen a paltry and inadequate compensation package.”
Assembly candidate for Fermanagh/South Tyrone Gerry McHugh said: “The government is selling off our oil and gas resources for nothing, without any policy for accessing alternative energy sources.”
Promoting the adoption of  an alternative policy on fuel sourcing McHugh said it was time to turn to green energy including bio-fuel and oil seed rape.
“Our dependency on oil can cripple us as an economy. This government only pays lip service when it comes to rural development. Rural proofing should be an inherent part of government policy.”
Supporting motion 49 which called for a regeneration fund for coastal communities Councillor Joe Reilly, general election candidate for Meath West, said that parts of Meath had been abandoned over the past 20 years.
“With rising house prices in places like Dublin there’s been a big influx of people into Meath and though there’s been a big growth in population, there has in fact been  a run down in services”, said Reilly.
He continued:“For instance there’s the closure of Garda stations in a county that is becoming increasingly urbanised. There is a real danger that Meath will be left behind in terms of services”, he said.
Also supporting motion 49 Arthur Morgan TD talked about the need to inject investment into rural Ireland.
“People must scratch their heads at the lack of investment in rural Ireland in this so called ‘Tiger economy’. Coastal communities North and South have been hung out to dry. My own constituency of Louth is laced with pockets of neglect – places like Clogherhead for instance. There’s a need to turn that around and that’s another reason why it’s so important that Sinn Féin fares well in the upcoming elections.”
All motions in this section were passed.