A PLAN to arrest population decline in rural areas by ensuring uniform charges for basic services and equality in the provision of telecommunications, electricity and transport, was unveiled by Fianna Fail yesterday.
The new rural development policy, announced by the party leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, proposes the phased introduction of a uniform charge for all phone calls within Ireland, an accelerated programme of decentralisation of government departments and a "freeing up" of credit union funds to foster local initiative.
The policy, which would be implemented in full on return to government, was a serious attempt to address a deterioration in the quality of life in rural areas. They were under pressure from a combination of declining population and reduced services, isolation and "difficulties in providing services evenly," Mr Ahern said.
He added: "Rather than the economic nonsense of country people flocking to already overcrowded towns and cities, a feature of Irish life over the past 40 years, it's time to stem that tide and anchor country jobs, country opportunities and the development of rural potential."
Difficulties in urban areas were showing the need for population stability throughout the State, he said. The document laid out 10 principles by which State policies would be evaluated in terms of urban and rural fairness.
Fianna Fail would seek one standard phone charge within the State by starting with the elimination of the current A-rate charges and their amalgamation in the local call charges areas and the reducing of the B-rate charge to an A-rate charge - the Eircell (mobile phone) system and weekend calls already operate on the basis of a single call charge area.
It made no economic sense to have "half empty schools, health centres, shops and community facilities in rural areas while the same facilities were being rebuilt in new urban sprawls," said the party's spokesman oil rural development, Mr Eamon O Cuiv.
A fundamental aim of the policy would be to retain resources where services were already in place and to relocate rural related State organisations to rural areas. In addition, rural development organisations would be over hauled to eliminate an overlap of services, and reduced in number.
The principle of uniform charging for such services as telecommunications, electricity, water, roads, sewerage and refuse will be adopted, Mr O Cuiv said. This would be manifest, for example, in a standard ESB connection charge.
Greater equity in the provision of industrial and commercial development would be in built into State policies, while "objective one" status in the provision of EU structural funds would be sought for rural areas experiencing population decline in the post-1999 period.
The measures, which are not costed, commit Fianna Fail to retaining "where possible" existing teachers in rural schools and the current number of Garda stations. It also proposes that all post offices be computerised and introduce new services incorporated into "one stopshops for State services, including banking, social welfare, motor taxation and local government services".
It envisages easing of social welfare means testing in rural areas by introducing "thresholds below which farmers, fishermen and other people in microbusinesses will not be assessed". This includes farmers with fewer than five livestock units, fishermen with boats less than 26 feet in size, seaweed harvesters with an income of less than £2,000 a year and women who keep Irish language students in Gaeltacht areas.
On water charges, it states: "We are totally committed to ensuring there will be no disparity between the maintenance costs to the consumer of water supplies, whether on public supply, group water scheme or private supply."
