The phoney war between the two biggest parties in the Dáil over who really cares most about rural Ireland could have a disastrous impact on proper planning for the country’s future.
The raucous Dáil exchanges between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil this week are less about the welfare of rural Ireland than political posturing in the run up to the expiry of the confidence-and-supply arrangement later in the year.
The danger is that competition among TDs to demonstrate who is more concerned about rural depopulation may have a direct impact on the allocation of resources under the €15 billion national development plan due to unveiled by the Government in the next month or so.
Successive governments have made important decisions based on narrow, local considerations
Fianna Fáil and a range of other political groups and Independents are already lining up to paint themselves as defenders of rural Ireland on the basis that the national plan will rightly place a significant focus on the development of a small number of urban centres.
Some Government Ministers have already been rattled and there are reports of internal battles in Cabinet to ensure a significant slice of the pie goes to rural Ireland.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has a battle on his hands to protect the core of the plan, which is not about reinforcing the hegemony of Dublin, but about providing for the development of vibrant urban centres in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford as a counterweight to the capital.
Watered down
If that central objective is watered down and resources diverted to white elephant projects all over the country to placate local interests, it will represent an abdication of responsibility which will have truly damaging long-term consequences for the people of the country.
One of the most negative features of Irish democracy since the foundation of the State has been the tendency of successive governments to make important decisions based on narrow, local political considerations rather than on a considered assessment of the national interest. This has had a damaging impact at a range of levels from urban growth to the provision of health services.
The lopsided development of the country with one huge urban area in Dublin and nothing remotely comparable in the rest of the country is down to the political cowardice of successive government who have pandered to the notion of protecting rural Ireland while effectively undermining it by failing to provide alternative urban centres to Dublin.
Fianna Fáil’s advance criticism of the development plan should be taken with a huge grain of salt given the party’s long record of putting short-term political gain over long-term planning.
Decentralisation scheme
Remember how the national spatial strategy that identified future development hubs 15 years ago was dumped by Charlie McCreevy in favour of an ill-thought out decentralisation scheme which was clearly designed for political advantage.
The net result was that Dublin continued to expand rapidly, absorbing the vast bulk of foreign direct investment, while the rest of the State fell behind. An obvious consequence of the move was the damage it inflicted on the efficiency of the public service, never mind the cost of acquiring land and properties that were never developed.
Those annoyed at Government decisions usually manage to have a greater impact than the relatively content majority
The national planning framework, now nearing completion, is an opportunity for Donohoe and his ministerial colleagues to take their courage in their hands and bring forward a coherent plan for regional development. That does not mean ignoring rural Ireland, but it does require choices about which urban centres should be a priority for development.
Those who have lined up to oppose the plan before it is even published seem determined to repeat the mistakes of the past. If they manage to frighten the Government into spreading resources too thinly, the only outcome will be the continued growth of Dublin and the continued decline of rural Ireland.
As Green Party leader Eamon Ryan pointed out in the Dáil, Dublin’s chronic housing and transport problems are the other side of the coin to the decline of rural Ireland.
Vibrant urban centres
Rural depopulation is a worldwide phenomenon. The solution is not to engage in the vast expense of providing all of the services available in urban centres to every remote individual house in the country but to ensure the development of vibrant urban centres which can provide the jobs and the future the people of rural Ireland deserve and need.
The danger now is that political considerations will take precedence in the final draft of the plan. All sides in Leinster House are preparing themselves for the possibility of an election later in the year and the temptation to pander to local interests is powerful.
It is inevitable that a range of Opposition forces will seek to exploit the grievances of those who will feel left behind when the plan is announced. Those annoyed at Government decisions usually manage to have a greater political impact than the relatively content majority.
The Government will have to fight on its hands not just to get its plan through the Dáil but, even more importantly, to convince a majority of people that the national plan is the best and fairest use of available resources. If it can do that there may even be a political dividend for doing the right thing.