Sinn Féin President, Mary Lou McDonald TD has hit out at the government over its treatment and "abandonment" of rural Ireland.

Mrs McDonald was giving a key address at the Rural Revival conference in Castleisland, Co Kerry, when she made the comments.

She said: "Successive Irish Governments have abandoned rural Ireland. Their vision is of a prosperous elite, big cities and a trickle down of wealth. A trickle that runs dry before it reaches rural Ireland.

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"This government has closed post offices and Garda stations. They have cut bus routes and failed to deliver broad band. They have cut hospital beds and presided over a shortage of nurses and doctors.

"The government focus on market solutions has created a housing crisis in cities and job crisis in rural Ireland. All of this has left communities in rural Ireland isolated and abandoned."

She has now called for an investment in services and infrastructure to balance development and jobs growth nationwide.

Mrs McDonald added: "The voice of rural Ireland needs to be heard, needs to be listened to and needs to be represented in Government.

"Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed, their legacy is found in the dereliction of rural Ireland and the breakup of families as a generation leaves the land. We need a new approach and a new government."

(CM/MH)