The crisis of depopulation in rural Mayo

Anton McNulty

On April 24, 100 years to the day since Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of Independence on the steps of the GPO, the people of Ireland will sit down and fill out their Census forms.
The 2016 Census, the first since 2011 when the current government came into power, will be a barometer of how Ireland has formed as a country following the economic crash in 2008. If the current trends are anything to go by, it will likely show a continued shift of the population to the east coast.
In Mayo, the depopulation of rural areas has become a real cause of concern for many communities, particularly in the west of the county. Locally the Census is likely to show some growth in the large towns such as Castlebar, Ballina, Westport and Claremorris while the decline in rural areas is set to continue.
The redrawing of the municipal district areas illustrated the problem of depopulation with the six seater West Mayo Muncipal District stretching along the whole of the west coast of the county from Leenane to Belderrig.
The revelation in last week’s edition of The Mayo News that of the 13 marriages in the parish of Achill in 2015, none of the couples were living in the parish, highlighted the difficulty young families have in residing in rural areas.
Achill, like many rural communities in the periphery of the country, has been hit hard by the recession since 2008 with the collapse of the construction sector having a major impact on small towns and communities.
“The last eight years has had a traumatic affect on rural Ireland,” explained Achill councillor Paul McNamara, “even more so than other recessions where trades people were able to find work in Dublin and keep rural Ireland ticking over. Unfortunately there was no work in Dublin and a number of people had to emigrate, bag and baggage, and commuting was not an option,” he said.

Services cut
As well as job loses, the economic downturn and the balancing of the books has seen a number of services being cut or reduced. Garda Stations have been closed in many small villages, post offices have closed or are downsized while transport links have also been reduced. Courthouses in many towns have been closed with sittings moved to Castlebar or Ballina while the long term future of GP services in many rural communities has also been questioned.
These are many of the issues which will be brought up with the current TDs and perspective candidates when they are out canvassing. Government candidates will defend their position, the opposition will attack them and say they have failed rural Ireland but is there anything which can be done to stop the obvious decline?
During The Mayo News’ Spotlight series on towns across the county before Christmas, the issue raised by most people was the lack of employment options available to entice young educated people to stay.
The issue was a major cause of concern for people in Belmullet who are seeing more and more young people leaving the area. Local businessman Enda Brogan said the lack of investment in the area and the collapse of traditional industries mean that young people have no real option but to leave.
“I think our government and politicians think that Belmullet is grand and doesn’t need investment. Every town needs investment. Sometimes it needs the support of its government, that could be as little as a factory unit. If there was 50 jobs provided, it is 50 homes with a better way of life and not dependent on social benefits. Do we want to keep people in our local towns. Young people have only one opportunity and unfortunately it’s the R313...out of here,” he commented.

Not sustainable
The idea of getting a large factory into small towns is according to NUI Galway lecturer Dr Maura Farrell ‘not sustainable’ and believes that small local enterprises are the way forward for many rural communities.
A Director of a MA in Rural Sustainability in the University’s Department of Geography, Dr Farrell believes that from her experience young people will always want to leave their area but services have to be in place for them to return.
“The idea of stopping young people from leaving is never a good idea because it can be good for them to leave and broaden their horizons,” she said. “I have worked on research which shows that up to 86 percent of people who have returned have set up a business because they have returned with a form of capital whether that be money or the know how to start a business.
“The issues they can face are things like poor broadband, transport, the availability of the workforce and other small things. It can be difficult for some to get back into the system when applying for grants and help. That is why this process needs to be seamless for them. Otherwise if they don’t do that it can become too difficult for them and a small town or village could potentially lose out.”   
The major issues which are affecting rural communities are the delivery of broadband, the importance of which Dr Farrell says is ‘like electricity was 50 or 60 years ago’. She acknowledged that the government are to roll out broadband throughout the country but feels that the level and power of broadband will determine how successful it will be.
Fr Kevin Hegerty, a priest in the Parish of Kilmore/Erris says from his own estimation, the number of school going children in the Erris area has halved in the last 30 years. From travelling around the county he sees the number of shops which have closed in small towns and feels the west is not benefitting from the economic recovery.
There are areas in the region which he says needs to be addressed such as the road to Castlebar which he says seems to have been forgotten about by the politicians. The challenge he says for the next government is to spread the benefits of the economic recovery to the west but he also feels the public should demand more.
“Most young people feel it is that it would be inevitable if they to College and qualify, the jobs they want will not be available in rural Ireland and they see their future elsewhere. Many parents would be of the same opinion.

Fatalism
“There is a lot of fatalism among people in rural Ireland in that they don’t expect much from the government. They have been promised so much for so long with little in return that a sense of fatalism has set in. The public probably don’t put enough pressure on politicians to do things about it.
“This election will probably be decided in the east of Ireland with the west having less power politically in the country,” he said.
Dr Farrell is a member of the government appointed Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas, which is chaired by former Kerry GAA star Pat Spillane. The CEDRA report was written in 2014 and Spillane later hit out at the ‘painfully slow progress’ in implementing ideas put forward by the group.
“Their [government] hands are often tied when it comes to money and the economy,” said Dr Farrell, “[but] there are some excellent ideas which need implementing. I am not saying nobody is trying to make changes but everyone needs to put the shoulder to the wheel.”
One initiative which she sees as having benefitted communities is the Leader programme which she says can ‘ignite’ communities if projects are administered properly.  
“We have a tendency in rural Ireland to look at what is wrong when there are some fantastic things going on. Look at our artisan foods and even our craft beer sector, they are some things which should be promoted more. There are so many things going on in terms of social enterprise. There is an idea that it can be difficult to get Leader funding, maybe that is a myth maybe it isn’t. But it should be organised that it is easier to get Leader funding which might just ignite an initiative in a community,” she said.
While agriculture is seen by the government as a way of kick-starting life in rural Ireland, the recent beef price crisis and the controversy over GLAS payments to hill farmers has affected the mood of the industry somewhat in the county.
However, one area where the government believes it can deserve credit in attracting investment into rural Ireland is in tourism. The success of the Wild Atlantic Way and the Great Western Greenway have brought additional visitors into the region and tourism related business is something Fr Hegarty believes should be developed further in rural areas.
“Some great things have come from the Greenway in a tourism perspective and tourism along with fishing and organic farming are areas I feel can be developed locally. There needs to be sustainable development and a coherent plan for the sustainable development of the west needs to be drawn up and implemented.”
With rural Ireland at a crossroads and facing greater uncertainty than ever before, the policies implemented by the next government are likely to decide the long-term future of many rural communities in Mayo.