Rural areas must work if they want help
ONE of Éamon O Cuiv’s first public comments after being appointed Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs last June was that he was not promising boreens paved with gold.
But in an important and thought provoking address he also pledged that the Government would do everything in its power to support, bolster and encourage rural development.
He spoke about investing in communities in a way that encourages people to do as much as possible themselves to better their areas.
And he talked about getting as far away as is humanly possible from the beal boch (poor mouth) and the expectation of continuing hand-outs with little or no participation or ownership on the part of the people receiving them.
During the previous year, as Minister of State he had travelled the highways and byways doing public meetings about Clar, a rural development programme with a self-help dimension set up to assist areas whose populations had declined.
He said he had been very happy to see so many communities taking the whole issue of rural development seriously, with a sense of pride and spirit.
Since then his views on rural development and the issues affecting it have not changed, as he revealed in a wide-ranging interview last week during a visit to Kiskeam in Cork North West.
He said rural Ireland has a social direction and a way of life that is on the one hand modern and on the other hand retains a lot of the inter-connections of the past.
Being responsible for rural affairs at the Cabinet table means he has an obligation to articulate the effect that various proposals will have, negative or positive, on rural Ireland.
He said his mission is to try to combine the best of modern technology, communications and the ability to move around with the best of the richness of rural society.
Minister O Cuiv defined that richness in terms of the closeness of people together, the interaction of people, and a sense of community and belonging, noting that a lot of money is now being spend in trying to develop this in new urban areas.
“Therefore, I have this vision that we can have all the mod cons and at the same time retain a lot of the quality of life aspects that are enticing so many young parents now to come back and settle down in rural Ireland.”
HE accepted that money is absolutely vital for rural development and said he will fight for his resources, even in these tough financial times. But it is not all about throwing as much money around as possible. It is also about concentrating on how that money is spent.
“Do you use it as a stimulant to other activities and make things happen or do you use it in a dead way that you don’t get extra value for it?”
Minister O Cuiv said some of the most marvellous sports facilities have been developed in rural Ireland with modest grants because local people were encouraged to do something for themselves.
“What I do not like is having delegations coming into me and saying their area is disadvantaged. I would much prefer them to come in and say they are making progress, that things are looking up and outline what they need to do over the next few years to make things even better.
“I like a positive attitude. One thing that has happened in Ireland, and it is quite extraordinary, is that the more prosperous we have become, the more people seem to be disgruntled. It is an awful tragedy. I would hate that anything Government does would encourage a depressed attitude or that you would have to sell your community short.
“I always boast that the area that I live in among the hills of Connemara is the best place in the country to live. But I will not forget that we have very bad roads. We need better services and a little more employment.”
Minister O Cuiv said communities who are doing most for themselves should be rewarded for effort and should receive more from the State. He is concerned about the continuous growth of funding agencies and schemes, often overlapping in functions and areas that in his experience makes the work of community development difficult and expensive. “You’ll see in the next year manifestations of the steps we are going to take to rationalise that system.”
