Economic growth 'killing community life'

Busy modern living is killing community spirit around the country, the Progressive Democrats claimed today.

Junior Finance Minister Tom Parlon today told a PD conference on Sustaining Communities that Ireland’s rapid economic growth in the past 20 years had also created profound social changes.

“While much of that change has been positive, many people feel that the sense of community, which for most of us has been a defining characteristic of Irish life, is fast diminshing,” he told the half-day event in Emo, Co Laois.

“Nobody in their right mind would want to go back to the dark days of the 1980s, however it is equally undeniable that the bonds which bind communities have been weakened over the same period.

“Too many people now work in one location, live in another and socialise in a third. They are resident in areas but not necessarily members of a community. Commuting is proving the great killer of community spirit.”

Today’s conference was chaired by Mr Parlon and speakers including Health Minister Mary Harney and GAA president Sean Kelly as well as representatives from the Chamber of Commerce Ireland, Failte Ireland, the Irish Countrywoman’s Association and Communities Against Drugs.

Mr Parlon also told the conference about the need to increase youth involvement in community life.

He called for a Government scheme, financed by the Dormant Accounts Fund to recruit professionals to provide activities for young people in urban and rural areas.

The Co Offaly TD said he planned to compile the PDs with a policy document on the issue.

“We need to provide a full-time pilot scheme to provide such trained resources to counteract the growing problem of youth indifference and apathy, and thereby tackle the so-called ’teenage time-bomb’.”