Restoring the glory of our villages

THE Celtic Tiger helped destroy the character of many old villages, but efforts are underway to preserve what’s left and again make villages attractive places in which to live.

New housing estates, the building of one-off houses on approaches to villages, modern shopping developments, canopied petrol stations and garages which are far better suited to major towns and cities, not to mention plastic and gaudy lighting, have utterly changed certain villages.

Other villages have been turned into dormer towns from which people commute, whilst villages in scenic areas have been over-developed with tax-driven holiday homes, some becoming ghost estates.