Rural Life in Ireland is under threat
Issued : Sunday 11 July, 2010
We have to look at the fact that rural life here in Westmeath and indeed throughout the country is seriously under threat. This is a far deeper issue than the discourse that took place around the Wildlife and Dog Breeding Bills which have merit in their own right. The recent heave in Fine Gael showed a marked urban rural split and for years this is certainly the case in the government. The Green Party agenda driven by 6 TDs in a government of over 80 is seeking to leave Ireland with Dublin based priorities. The new carbon tax for example is only costing the Greens constituents in Dublin around €25 but costing us here in the Midlands over €275 per person. We have little access to public transport, and most of the primary health and educational centres are located in Dublin. While we do have an IT in Athlone and a great hospital in Mullingar there is no train line and only a series of bad roads in between the two supposed national spatial towns. The government can launch the spending of billions last week on inter Dublin trains and DARTS but can’t spend a small fraction of that to join up the only two westerly running train routes.
Rural Life in Ireland is under threat
We have to look at the fact that rural life here in Westmeath and indeed throughout the country is seriously under threat. This is a far deeper issue than the discourse that took place around the Wildlife and Dog Breeding Bills which have merit in their own right. The recent heave in Fine Gael showed a marked urban rural split and for years this is certainly the case in the government. The Green Party agenda driven by 6 TDs in a government of over 80 is seeking to leave Ireland with Dublin based priorities. The new carbon tax for example is only costing the Greens constituents in Dublin around €25 but costing us here in the Midlands over €275 per person. We have little access to public transport, and most of the primary health and educational centres are located in Dublin. While we do have an IT in Athlone and a great hospital in Mullingar there is no train line and only a series of bad roads in between the two supposed national spatial towns. The government can launch the spending of billions last week on inter Dublin trains and DARTS but can’t spend a small fraction of that to join up the only two westerly running train routes.
If we look at the attacks on rural life in any kind of depth we see the cutback in farm payments, less farm employment, larger units with concentration and specialisation of farm production, and the poor price food producers get for their product. Then there is the closure of rural post offices, cut backs in local medical services, the closure of the small rural shops, the decimation of the rural pub, and small business going to the wall. Even before the new EPA code of practice restrictions on one off houses in the country even to farm families were prohibitive. There are the battles to keep our hospital, to find sites for schools in rapidly expanding commuter belt rural areas and the amount of stealth taxes levied on rural Ireland. It seems that policy is all about getting people to population centres and sacrificing our history, heritage and richness of life in rural Ireland in the process. It is the green tail wagging the dog at the moment and while the recent bills raise questions about rural life the sustainability of rural Ireland is what is at stake. We do need to shout stop!
Cllr 
