Stopping the slide

The people’s agenda Kiltimagh



Stopping the slide

Edwin McGreal

PART of Kiltimagh’s problem is that it is off the beaten path. The N5, N17 and N60 all run in proximity to the town but none actually intersects. Kiltimagh must therefore be self-sufficient as it has little in the way of passing traffic and a lower standard of road network.
You would have to agree with Joe Kelly, CEO of IRD Kiltimagh Ltd, a company centrally involved in the development of the town, when he points out how beneficial the re-opening of the Western Rail Corridor would be to the area.
Smaller shops are suffering in more places than Kiltimagh but the negative impact there has been sufficient to close three different shops since Christmas and to prompt a public meeting on the issue last week.
At one level, it is a separate issue from the Rail Corridor and separate from the issues of sewerage, water, broadband  and industry which hamstring the town, but you wouldn’t be incorrect in pointing out that an improvement in one would have a domino effect, and if Kiltimagh were to receive most of what it is calling for, then the whole town would be thriving.
Their demands don’t appear to be huge. The demise of the small shops is a fact of life but the level of it often depends on the local environment, and the fact that Kiltimagh is not a stopping point on a national road certainly doesn’t help. In addition, inadequate sewerage and water difficulties may well be turning people off moving to the locality while, although Kiltimagh IRD (Integrated Regional Development) are actively involved in the new business park in the town, the lack of broadband facilities restricts investment here.
Joe Kelly says it doesn’t have to be like this. “We are eight years waiting for an upgrade of the sewerage scheme and we have been treated abysmally by the Government. Policy and inactivity have held up our scheme. Water is critical too. We get our water from the local river, the Glore, but it’s substandard and we need to be connected to the Lough Mask Group Water Scheme.
“We were one of the towns who got a Metropolitan Area Network in 2003 but we cannot get broadband operational. We have a fibre ring around the town with huge bandwidth but it is not connected to anything. Minister Dempsey does not appear to understand the waste of money on this not being completed. It would only cost €100,000 to finish off; €400,000 has been spent already on the firewall. It’s like having a car worth €20,000 and no wheels to go anywhere with,” remarks Kelly.
And of course the opening of the Western Rail Corridor from Limerick to Sligo would make a huge difference to Kiltimagh, one of the stopping points on that route.
“We fully support West on Track in their bid to get the corridor reopened. We see its value, the need for it and the opportunity it would bring to Kiltimagh, particularly with the business park opening. It would be hugely beneficial for people in the town working or studying in Galway or Sligo as it would give them the opportunity to live at home and that in turn would boost the local economy,” continues Kelly.
All very achievable, according to Kelly. Other issues, common to most rural towns, also affect Kiltimagh. The lack of a full-time garda based in the town is constantly brought up by people of the town as an issue.
The People Speak
1 Betty Solan
“I think the biggest problem the town has is vandalism. Anytime you do something constructive these louts come along and ruin it. There is no resident Garda in the town. The other thing is that we seem to have a particularly large ratio of people looking for asylum here. They are concentrated in a particular part of the town so there’s never any incorporation of them into the community. There was a great spirit in the town but it is obvious that it is going down a lot.”

2 Bridie Wimsey
“At the moment all our small shops are disappearing. We don’t want anything like Tesco. Our own supermarkets are fine. What we do need is to get the small shops back again. Parking is also a huge issue – the lack of it. We’ve lots of the new Irish which is great and they’ve been successfully integrated. They all come to the library on a regular basis. We’ve new estates around the town, all sold but still the business isn’t going to the town, it’s going to where they work.”

3 Mick Higgins
“The lack of police in the town is absolutely crazy. The anti-social problem is the same in this town as many others. On a personal basis, I wanted to get my driver’s license renewed some weeks ago and I had to go up to the barracks on three days before I got someone there. A full-time garda would be hugely beneficial, just the presence alone. The lack of shops is a fact of life. That has happened all over the world. It is impossible to compete with the Tescos or the Dunnes of this world.”