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Balanced Regional Development

The Challenge

Balanced regional development is in the interests of individuals, families and communities in every region of the country. Dublin has been the engine of the country's economic growth, but its current uncontrolled expansion is neither sustainable nor desirable. Ireland needs a more balanced pattern of development in the interests of fairness, sustainability and competitiveness.

The next government must not repeat the mistakes of its predecessors. The chief weakness of the 2002 National Spatial Strategy (NSS) was that it lacked real political commitment across all government departments. In addition, the scattergun approach of the failed decentralisation policy only served to signal that the government had no intention of implementing its own spatial strategy.

The challenge for the next government is to lay the foundation stones of modern regional economies that will be capable of embracing a future where regions and cities compete for investment on an international stage.

This must be supported by national government through guaranteeing universal broadband access, investing in transport infrastructure, ensuring adequate water, gas and electricity supplies and investing in education, research and skills.

Future balanced regional development should be a combination of significant investment in regional urban centres and innovative policies to exploit our natural strengths, such as our beautiful landscape and high-quality food industry, and to spearhead new industries, such as bioenergy.

A strong economic and social counterweight to Dublin which would attract both private investment and a significant proportion of the country's workforce could only improve Ireland's competitiveness.

It is time for strong, joined-up leadership from government to close the wealth divide between east and west. Improved standards of living and vibrant, sustainable communities for all should be more than an aspiration. It should be a priority.

Ireland can do better

Labour will pursue a more even spread of economic activity across Ireland to improve quality of life and build a more sustainable and competitive economy.

Balanced regional development is in the interests of individuals, families and communities in every region of the country. Dublin has been the engine of the country's economic growth, but its current uncontrolled expansion is neither sustainable nor desirable.

What Labour will do

A quality future for rural communities

What Labour will do

• Create a unitary Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to ensure the proper coordination between these related areas of government and to take advantage of increasing payments from the EU's Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) budget for rural development initiatives.
• Reduce by 50 per cent the rates bills of village shops, pubs and/or garages where they are the last one, two or three remaining in their communities.
• Develop and resource targeted policies addressing poverty and social exclusion among women in rural Ireland, particularly regarding childcare, training and education.
• Implement policies that encourage part-time farming.
• We want a greater share of Ireland's rural development funding to go on improving the quality of life in rural areas and facilitating the diversification of the rural economy.
• Find effective ways of ensuring farm spouses' work on the farm is appropriately recognised by the social welfare system.
• Foster, particularly through distance and after-hours learning courses, an ethos of continuing education amongst farming and rural families.

Agriculture: supporting farmers

What Labour will do

• We want only products wholly produced here to be labelled as Irish. We will pursue regulatory changes to make this a reality through the EU.
• Ensure that whenever necessary changes are implemented to the single farm payment system, no risks are taken with the effective delivery of existing payments to farmers and their families.
• Review the working of the Agriculture Appeals Office and ensure that it fulfils its duties as effectively as possible.
• Maintain farm consolidation support measures, such as continuing provision of stamp duty relief for qualifying farmers under fifty.
• We will keep raising the thresholds in the leased land exemption scheme.
• We are committed to ensuring optimal take-up of the Farm Assist and Rural Social Scheme programmes.
• Work with the European Commission to secure the continuation of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme beyond 2010.
• Implement measures to support the further development of high added-value and specialist milk products by small and larger-scale operators.
• Introduce the €250 million Animal Welfare, Recording and Breeding Scheme for Suckler Herds currently before the Commission.
• Implement a Capital Investment Support Scheme for the beef and sheepmeat primary processing sector
• Ensure that farmers do not bear an unfair burden of any costs associated with any animal health and welfare disease scares.
• Put country of origin information labelling on poultrymeat, pigmeat and sheepmeat so consumers are properly informed.

Expand Organic Agriculture

What Labour will do:

• Establish an Irish organic label to do for organic agriculture what 'Kerrygold' has done for conventional agriculture.
• Work on establishing the levels and the kinds of supports necessary for the widespread production, processing and sale of indigenously produced organic food in Ireland and abroad.
• Resource adequate testing of organic food so the integrity of the market is protected.
• Initiate studies and relevant research aimed at promoting informed debate on GMO production. The aim of such debate will be to establish if it would be in Ireland's economic best interests to become one of the few GMO production-free areas in the world over the coming decade.
• Push for the strongest possible evidence-based rules in the EU governing the release of GMOs into the environment.

Food and Food Safety

• We will combat growing 'food fraud' by promoting widespread testing of food in Ireland and changes in EU regulation of imports to overcome current shortccomings in the traceability and labelling regulations governing food imported and sold in Ireland.
• We will introduce traffic light food labelling which will allow consumers to decide easily whether or not certain foods meet their dietary requirements.

Better Research

• Building upon existing high quality agri-food research in the universities and Teagasc, we will establish a national Environment Research Centre. The Centre's mission will be to provide research-based understanding of the chemical, pedological, biological, engineering and socioeconomic needs of the agri-food industry (including the artisan food sector) allied to the sustainable rural economy and the protection of Ireland's rural environment.
• We will stimulate the development of plastic materials and chemical agents from plants such as beet.

Animal Health and Welfare

We will:

• Replace the pre-independence 1911 Protection of Animals Act with legislation grounded in evidence-based animal health and welfare standards.
• Vest responsibility for all animal health and welfare issues, including animal experimentation and enforcement of the Dog Control Acts, in a single minister.
• In order for the eventual goal of free movement of animals and animal products within the island of Ireland to be achieved, we will support the North South Ministerial Council's work in developing all-island animal health policy and import regime.

Coastal Communities,Fisheries & Marine Environment

Our unique marine sector must be supported and promoted, especially during a period where it faces major challenges due to serious neglect over the past ten years. The Irish fishing industry is an important source of economic benefit to often disadvantaged coastal communities. We believe that properly managed, Ireland's sea fisheries have the potential to be both profitable and sustainable in the long-term.

Labour advocates that five key areas must be addressed in developing our sea fisheries and marine strategy. These are sustainability, profitability, local management of fisheries, supporting local coastal communities and enhancing safety and maritime workers' pay and conditions.

What Labour will do:

• Establish a Sea Fisheries Sustainability Impact Assessment based on consultation with all major stakeholders to be brought before Dail Eireann on an annual basis before EU fisheries negotiations commence. An annual report of this nature would ensure that there is a regular evaluation of the Irish fish stocks and the effectiveness of current policy and quotas. Sustainability and profitability are complementary objectives for ensuring an Irish fishing industry that is globally competitive and has a vibrant long-term future.
• Develop an Irish seafood strategy to grow the market profile and demand for Irish fish so as to benefit local fishing communities. Most of the employment and economic benefits of the fishing industry are centred in areas of relative socio-economic disadvantage.
• Ensure that the new Sea Fisheries Protection Authority is urgently established and adequately resourced to carry out its vital management of Ireland's sea fishing stocks.
• Establish a Sea Fisheries Stakeholder Advisory Group where industry representatives, the marine scientific community and all other stakeholders have clearly defined roles and a major contribution to shaping national maritime policy.
• Launch a new harbour refurbishment and development programme under the National Development Plan (NDP) particularly to resource smaller and neglected harbours and to assist the diversification of the functions of harbours and small port facilities (including for tourism and recreation purposes).
• Ensure that the Irish Coast Guard has access to an Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV), as recommended by the Marine Department as far back as 1999. The Labour Party believes that safety issues and working conditions must be a critical part of our long-term fisheries strategy, as fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in Ireland.
• Work with our EU partners to ensure that safety and working conditions, and seafarers and maritime workers' wages assume the highest priority in developing a maritime strategy and not be compromised in any way due to the unique nature of the maritime trade.
• Continue to support sustainable aquaculture and fish farming, which are the fastest growing areas of world fish production. Labour in government will enhance the roles of the Marine Institute, BIM and Udaras na Gaeltachta, along with the producers and workforce, in developing the Irish aquaculture industry
• Introduce legislation to further protect and closely regulate coastal environments that may be affected by increased aquaculture production.
• Be committed to full consultation with all inland fisheries stakeholders before the establishment of the National Inland Fisheries Authority. Labour will give local fisheries advisory groups a key role in local ownership and management of inland fishery resources.

Forestry

• We support the achievement of annualised planting targets of 20,000 hectares.
• We will increase the annual payment to farmers to keep the real value of the payments constant.
• We will aim to at least double the carbon sequestered by sinks from 2.07 Mt CO2 to 4 MtCO2 in the next Kyoto period, with a corresponding increased role for farmers.
• We will protect the Afforestation Grant Scheme and we will pay farmers the level of forestry premium payments over a shorter period of time.

Tourism

Tourism is a vital market for Irish business and supports large numbers of jobs. Labour in government will seek to refresh and modernise the Irish tourism product.

Ireland's relatively unspoilt landscape is a key driver of our tourism industry. We believe that sustainable tourism depends on protecting and cultivating our natural environment. This should be the starting point for the growth of activity holidays and eco-tourism.

Ireland's recent success in attracting major sporting events bodes well for the future. We are fully committed to building on this success, and will work with sporting bodies seeking to attract international competitions to Ireland.

Developing cultural tourism should be a priority over the coming years. Protecting and investing in our heritage and the development of festivals around the country will enrich both our own cultural life and the experience of visitors to Ireland.

What Labour will do:

• Protect areas of great natural beauty from over-development and strictly limit development along the coastline.
• Our proposed new government agency, Sport and Recreation Ireland, will partner local authorities, OPW, Coillte and Waterways Ireland to further develop outdoor activity facilities such as treks, walks and cycle ways on an integrated local, regional and national basis.
• Create a dedicated national cycle network.
• We will develop and market niche elements of the tourism market where Ireland has considerable potential to shine, such as ecotourism and culinary excellence.
• We will expand funding for festivals and encourage the development of a small number of landmark cultural festivals of international standing, preferably outside Dublin.
• The online community is the world's biggest tourism market. We will grow regional tourism by ensuring that local communities and tourism interests have access to and visibility in this market.

Transport

We will:

• Consistent with our plans to recast local government in Ireland we will create city and regional authorities that will have a number of functions, including transport. They will include city authorities in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and the Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar triangle. Regional authorities will be established in other regions of the country. These authorities will be responsible for strategic planning and for overseeing the delivery of region-wide services, which will include procuring, funding and operating joined-up public transport projects for their region, integrated timetabling and ticketing, development of new routes, linking land use planning to public transport and managing traffic flow.
• We will upgrade intercity rail connections to ensure that all major inter-city journeys are faster by rail than by car.
• Restore rail links between Ennis and Athenry as part of the Western Rail Corridor.
• Extend commuter rail services to the suburbs of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
• Support the careful rolling-out of the Rural Transport Initiative nationally, and expand its remit to include late night services.

Communications and Infrastructure

What Labour will do:

• The national electricity grid will be strengthened in the west and north-west to facilitate larger off-shore wind farms and to support a greater density of industry.
• Begin to close the digital divide by creating a Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband. Accessibility to broadband networks will assume the same character as the present expectation of universal access to the postal service or telephone network.
• An Post is an essential part of the fabric of Irish life, both urban and rural and has a very important social and commercial role in our country. We will establish a comprehensive strategy for An Post as the 2009 deadline for the fully liberalised market approaches.
• Maintain the optimal number of local outlets in the Post Office network with transparent and accountable criteria supporting the network. This must include ensuring that the postal network is fully automated and maintained.
• Encourage a business model for An Post that embraces innovation, provision of new services and the establishment of mutually rewarding international alliances.
• Introduce a postal industry regulator or establish a separate postal operating division within ComReg to ensure that the Universal Service Obligation is upheld, complaints by householders and businesses are effectively dealt with and consumers' interests are represented in postal pricing policy.
• We will invest in rural water services to ensure access to clean, safe drinking water for all.

An 'alternative growth pole'

The development of an 'alternative growth pole' along the Atlantic Corridor will be pursued. At present Ireland only has one city capable of competing with other international cities for certain categories of mobile, high-value added industries. However, if combined, the populations of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford would provide the critical mass needed to compete with Dublin for investment. These cities could act in concert to form a major focal point of regional development. Athlone, Mullingar and Tullamore could also combine their resources to form a growth centre, as could Sligo and Letterkenny-Derry.

An alternative growth pole depends on the cities/counties in question cooperating rather than competing for investment. Mechanisms will be put in place to ensure proper coordination between public authorities and agencies working in conjunction with the private sector.