Ó Sé sees a future for rural tourism and small country shops

DESPITE current negative trends, there could be a future for rural tourism and small country shops, according to football legend and Fáilte Ireland director Páidí Ó Sé.

He recalled how he was brought up in a small shop in Ventry, in the West Kerry gaeltacht, at a time when such shops did a thriving business in the 1960s.

“After that, there was a drop-off as shoppers started going to supermarkets in Dingle,” he said.

“But, I think we could see a resurgence of the small shop, possibly in the organic food area.

“It would not take that much to encourage people to get back out the country again, if they got better value for money.”

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Kerry branch of the Irish Rural Development Association (IRDA), Mr Ó Sé voiced concerns about difficulties being experienced by some people in getting planning permission for houses in rural areas.

While he believed some holiday home development had been “overdone” in West Kerry in the 1970s and 1980s, he said it should be possible to find a proper balance between protecting the environment and allowing people to build houses for themselves.

GAA clubs and other organisations needed to have people living in such areas if they were to survive, he went on. Mr Ó Sé said several European countries also had problems with migration to the cities, but Ireland differed in that it had many rural areas which had well-established links with tourism.

Acknowledging that rural bed and breakfasts were being badly hit by competition from three-star hotels, he felt B&Bs should not cut their prices, but should instead provide more services.

Outgoing Kerry IRDA chairman Tom Lynch said exorbitant house prices were placing huge stress on young people, many of whom were often unable to get planning for a home on their own sites, or on the family farm.

He was also critical of objections to planning applications by ‘serial’ third party objectors, many of whom were often resident outside the State.

Irish Times journalist Michael O’Regan said rural communities needed a young population if they were to survive.

While respecting the right to have acceptable planning standards, he said young people must still be accommodated and encouraged to settle in rural parishes.