There is a difference between advocating for a place and undermining it. I always support people who advocate for their area, be it a town, a city or the country from where they come, or the rural area they represent. There is a big difference between advocacy and undermining. Advocacy involves acknowledging problems and coming up with solutions, and undermining the place from where one comes from actually deters investment and puts people off moving in to those areas, making it harder to do what we need to do.

On the Government's and my commitment to rural Ireland, one of the first actions I took as Taoiseach was to appoint a Cabinet-level Minister for Rural and Community Development.

He has nothing to do.

The Minister is here beside me. I will give the House some examples of things that have been done-----

That Department has no function.

Here we go.

-----in a short period of time to make rural Ireland a better place to live and make it more attractive for people to live, raise their families, set up businesses and do all the things we want. An investment of €21 million has been made in the town and village scheme.

How much?

The local improvement scheme-----

The Taoiseach without interruption please.

It says a lot about the different approach that Members on this side of the House are willing to listen to the charges and then the question is thrown in at the end.

Go on. This is good.

I remind Members that the Taoiseach should respond without interruption please.

The Opposition hates the facts, so I will go through the facts again.

It was €13 million out of €400 million.

Deputies, please.

Some €21 million has been invested in the town and village scheme, and there will be a lot more to come, making our towns and villages a lot more attractive to live in.

Yes, they are just thriving.

The local improvement scheme has been restored with €17 million spent already on that, improving rural laneways and access-----

The Taoiseach should visit some of them.

Some order please.

-----to farms and homes in rural Ireland. There will be more funding there also. The rural recreation scheme has been granted €11 million and €30 million is provided for the Leader programme. There has been an underspend in the Leader programme-----

That is the understatement of the year.

-----but there is always an underspend in the first two years. The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, has made 32 changes already to simplify the Leader process and to make sure money is drawn down and is spent. The social inclusion and community activation programme is receiving €43 million. The CLÁR programme is receiving €5 million to help restore small-scale infrastructure projects in rural areas.

Very small.

Perhaps most important of all, 80% of jobs that were created in the last quarter in this country were created outside the Dublin area. The Government's target - the Deputy asked me about delivering on our targets - was to ensure 68% of new jobs created were outside the greater Dublin area. We have exceeded our target by providing 80% of new jobs outside the greater Dublin area. I do not think there is anything more we can do for rural Ireland than ensuring there is employment in rural Ireland.

I am afraid there is.

That is what sustains communities. If there are jobs there, people can stay in those areas.

There are no jobs in many rural areas.

The people who got the jobs might be in rural Ireland-----

I will not tolerate a continuation of this.

-----but they have to drive into the city every day.

I will not tolerate this. I ask Deputies to restrain themselves. They might not like what they are hearing.

I am hearing nothing.

I have no responsibility for that.

In addition, changes were made to ensure GPs have more funding to establish in rural areas.

What?

Is the Taoiseach joking?

He is not serious.

Who told the Taoiseach that?

I did not need to be told it because I signed the order to make it easier for GPs-----

That is a few years back.

-----to qualify for the rural practice allowance and to increase the rural practice allowance.

They are not there.

I signed the order so I do not need to be told about these things.

It has not had any effect in those few years.

I would like to make a final point about the railways. In the past ten years, much of which was a very difficult period of budget cutbacks, we did not close any railway lines in rural Ireland or any other part of Ireland. Now that we are in a position to invest in our railways again and to increase Iarnród Éireann's subvention, which has increased by 35% in three years, Deputies can be absolutely assured that having got through the worst recession in a generation without closing any railways, we are certainly not going to start doing it now.