Special Report: Rural Ireland must define its own vision

VISIONS. The modern ones relating to rural Ireland started with Éamon de Valera, when in 1943 in a St Patrick’s day radio address he asserted in what is known as the ‘comely maidens speech’ (wildly missquoted).

In the speech, he said: “The Ireland that we dream of would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as a basis for right living, of a people who, satisfied with frugal comfort, devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit, a land whose countryside would be bright with cosy homesteads, whose fields and villages would be joyous with the sounds of industry, with the romping of sturdy children, the contest of athletic youths, and the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age.”

In the Government White paper of 1998, an initiative spearheaded by the late TD Noel Davern, the vision was more practical: “The ensuring of economic and social well-being for rural communities by providing the conditions for a meaningful and fulfilling life for all people living in rural Ireland.