A changing landscape
Michael Duffy
MORE than any other country in Europe, there is an intrinsic link
between Ireland and rural dwelling. The association is a deep-rooted
one with a rich historical context, but increasingly in the last decade
that association has been coming under attack and numerous challenges
have had to be faced by the rural dweller in the current climate of
prosperity and modernisation.
Those challenges though are very different to the ones which the rural
dweller faced back in the early nineties when the country was in the
depths of economic despair.
“The whole economic set-up was hugely
different at the time in 1991. Interests rates were 17 and 18 percent,
there were people flocking to the airports, it was unbelievably
different really,” states Gerry O’Neill, (pictured) Chief Executive of
the South West Mayo Development Company.
The company is a voluntary board of people who are active in the
continuing development of south and west Mayo and Gerry, a native and
resident of Balla, has been involved with the company from the very
outset. As he has described, back in 1991 there were huge problems to
be faced in developing rural Ireland. Most people took the easy option
and fled the nest.
“The company was originally set up as a rural development group to run
the European LEADER pilot programme. The main instigators were people
from the likes of the Westport Chamber of Commerce, the Castlebar
Development Association and also community organisations in place like
Ballinrobe, Ballintubber and Balla,” states Gerry at the company office
in Balla, a smaller branch than the main offices of the Carey Walsh
Building in Newport.
“There was £2 million available at the time for the roll-out of the
project over four years and I started working as a project development
officer in June 1992 and dealt with private enterprise, community and
tourism projects.”
Gerry admits that the work conducted by the company really suited him
as he had come from an agricultural background and was brought up in a
rural setting. He attended school in Balla and then in Ballinafad
Agricultural College before going on to teach there and in Balla
Secondary School for a short time. But he jumped at the opportunity to
get involved with the South West Mayo Development Company in 1992.
“At the time, it was an exciting development and the chance to be
involved in developing community projects and communities in general
appealed greatly to me. A lot of enterprises that got off the ground
with the help of LEADER I funding are still in business in the county;
it was a successful initiative and the investment was an obvious
catalyst for an equivalent of private and community sector investment.”
The success of the LEADER I project led to the roll-out of LEADER II in
the late nineties and this funding led to a larger focus on the
development of community facilities and services.
“The difference with LEADER II was that it was more community-focused
in comparison to LEADER I, which was more private enterprise. There
would be a lot of rural tourism initiatives such as B&Bs and self
catering.
“LEADER II came on stream in 1996 and ran until around 2000 and we had
the added challenge of dealing with a bigger area which encompassed the
Claremorris and Ballyhaunis areas. We had around £2.3 million and we
found the pick-up for the scheme was even better, partly because we as
an organisation were more professional, more recognised.”
In the late nineties, the South West Mayo Development Company also
became responsible for the delivery of the Local Development Social
Inclusion Programme, which came on stream around the time the Celtic
Tiger really started to stretch his legs.
“The new-found economic prosperity meant that there were new challenges
to be faced for the company and the provision of community facilities
in towns that were expanding and growing at a rate of knots became the
real challenge.
”If you take a town like Balla here, the first housing estates on the
outskirts of the town were starting to be built around that time but no
one could have predicted its unabated continuation. It has been the
same in towns and villages right across the county and we have had to
adjust and try to meet the requirements of these burgeoning
communities.”
In 2000, Gerry admits there was a bit of a ‘hiatus’ in the company
after the completion of LEADER II but Leader Plus was being developed
at European level and it was a natural progression to apply for this
programme.
“That came on stream in 2001 and it was at this time that I moved from
project co-ordinator to Chief Executive. All this time we had Local
Development Social Inclusion Programme running and programmes like the
Rural Transport Programme have grown out of this. The LEADER programme
was how the company started at the beginning but all these other
programmes have come on stream and we have endeavoured to make sure
they all are maximised.”
At the moment, the most significant programme in terms of uptake is the
Rural Social Scheme which was announced in the summer of 2004. This is
available to farmers who are on low incomes and are employed to do
community work for 19-and-a-half hours a week.
“We were delighted to be chosen to facilitate this scheme as only eight
companies were chosen nationwide for its roll-out. That was a real vote
of confidence in our ability to deliver on such a scheme and it has
proved to be a huge success. This programme is the busiest we currently
have, with nine schemes right across our area of operation. There are a
total of 171 participants, which is the biggest uptake anywhere in the
country.
“The amount of work being done by those people in those communities is
huge, doing work of all descriptions in a community context - taking
care of community centres, community enhancement work, looking after
the elderly, sports coaching, social services.”
The huge development that has taken in place in the towns and villages
across Mayo has meant that fabric of rural life is now hugely different
- even from the time when the company started back in 1991.
“We do have to be realistic about change. There is no point in harping
back to the era of the donkey and cart when we talk about rural
Ireland. That looks alright on postcards but what we need to do is
insure all of the rural communities and the rural parishes in our area
continue to be a viable place to live in.
“The maintenance of population is of the utmost importance and also
there needs to be enough economic activity in those areas to ensure
that most services are available close by.
There is a grading in rural areas like our own where you have the
bigger towns like Westport, Castlebar, Claremorris and Ballinrobe and
then you have the smaller settlements like Newport, Louisburgh, Balla,
Ballindine and Shrule. Then we have the smaller rural villages and all
these different areas need to be sustained in their own way; there is
an expected level of service in each of these areas and that needs to
be maintained and developed.”
Gerry admits there is a delicate balance between maintaining the rural
fabric of the county while still providing the services and facilities
which a family living in modern Mayo demands.
“It is a complex system and the reality is at some point we are going
to come to a limit with regard to the amount of houses that are going
to be built in rural areas of the county. We are not going to be in a
position where we can build houses wherever we choose. At the moment
70% of Mayo’s population live in what we term ‘rural areas’, that is in
settlements of 1,500 people or less.
“But the reality is a lot of these people are not living a rural
lifestyle. They are living an urban lifestyle and have no real
association with the countryside. However, farming is still what shapes
the rural landscape and that has to be sustained as well. It’s a
delicate balance.”
The continuing evolution of rural Ireland means there is still an
obvious role for companies like the South West Mayo Development Company
and Gerry is confident the role will continue to be relevant.
“We are now close to the end of the current round of funding but we
feel we are very well placed to continue in our current guise for many
more years to come. There is a new European Rural and Agricultural
Development Fund (EARDF) which is due to run until 2013 and part of
this fund embodies the LEADER approach, which makes provision for local
groups been the deliverer of these types of projects and supports. We
are naturally very happy about this and we feel this is a recognition
of the work we have done and are capable of doing well into the future.”