Reimagining Rural Ireland
As published in the Western People, 7 January 2025
An aerial view of the new Connacht GAA Air Dome at the Centre of Excellence in Bekan in East Mayo. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
My final Western People article of 2024 was not in keeping with the spirit of ‘Happy Christmas’ or indeed a ‘Happy New Year’, but one I felt compelled to write as a social historian, but also a proud native of this part of Ireland. Your response to my effective eulogy on the local decline of rural communities has been both affirming and gratifying. However, a common feedback thread suggested I had failed to offer any constructive solutions to the social decay witnessed in the rural west of Ireland. That was not my original purpose, but on reflection, I now offer some ideas gleaned from both my conversations with community activists and social justice advocates, as well as a few of my own.
I am not alone in believing that to radically reimagine our shared future in the face of local and global threats, we must adopt ‘blue sky thinking’ or brainstorming outside of the box in a way that isn't constrained by the limits of practicality. We must not focus on whether our idea is realistic or not, or if the proposer ‘has notions above his station’ (as I have been castigated in the past), but allow ourselves to dream. Ireland West Airport was one such dream of a parish priest, Mgr James Horan, to build an airport on a ‘foggy, boggy hillside’ as derided by his opponents. Through his leadership, and the support of a brilliant committee, the dream became a reality and the airport was opened in May 1986 by the indefatigable Mgr Horan just a few months before his death.
Ballyhaunis native, John Prenty, a former secretary of Mayo GAA Board, became the first full-time secretary/CEO of Connacht GAA Council in 1995. Under his leadership, the €3 million air dome was the world’s largest such structure when it was completed in 2020 at rural Bekan in East Mayo. It contains a full-size GAA pitch along with a running track, a fully equipped gym and a portable stand and can hold 2,000 spectators. With indoor facilities becoming more and more essential due to extreme weather, even Barcelona FC officials visited in 2023 to examine how they could benefit from a similar facility for their players. The Connacht Air Dome has been a massive success and is hailed as ‘the future’ for allowing teams to train and play matches away from the harsh west of Ireland weather.
In the 21st century, North Mayo’s location is not a barrier to being at the core of the digital revolution. Lionbridge Technologies has established a thriving Ballina operation since 1998, creating over 150 full and part-time jobs in a town that had nothing beforehand from a technology perspective. Users across the globe now rely on Ballina for an accurately translated and culturally appropriate internet experience for their country and region. The team behind Lionbridge along with such inspirational social advocates as the late Killala industrialist and champion of the West, Sean Hannick - a tireless advocate of local development – have laid the foundation of a digital infrastructure with the potential to encourage cutting-edge tech entrepreneurs to make North Mayo their base.
I have long believed that Ballina town (or at least the central area) should have a roof. It actually seems quite daft that old photographs show more protective awnings over shopfronts in the nineteenth century than on present-day Pearse St, even as there are now far more rainy days than ever. Ask any Ukrainian what is the biggest challenge to living in the town and they will tell you about the ‘sideways wet’ as our soft rain is called. Imagine instead a dry urban area of small shops, cafes and restaurants, art spaces with intermingled, sustainable accommodation under guaranteed climate control (or at least the worst of it mitigated). Such a world-class project would also inspire new imaginative thinking, as we need to come up with solutions to the increasing effects of climate change.
As a Mayo Green, I am proud of the work that my party achieved in the last government, especially in developing the rural bus services, linking towns, villages and rural homes. Our Community Empowerment policy emphasises decentralisation and community participation, aiming to empower local communities and strengthen grassroots democracy. Essentially, it places community councils on a statutory footing with official recognition and rights of consultation, especially regarding planning applications.
I would go even further by having these community councils replace existing county councillors and actively participate in decisions and processes aimed at improving outcomes for communities while overseeing the decisions of local government officials. Directly-elected mayors in towns should have significant powers over local services and budgets while ensuring urban centres have the ability to set by-laws and chart their own development. If the people of Ballina wish to have free parking in their town on Saturdays to encourage shoppers, then they should be able to make that happen – and deal with the consequential loss of parking fees in a grown-up fashion.
I am an advocate of grass-roots democracy where we can leverage the benefits of online voting to make local government decision-making accessible to everyone. Each self-identifying community should have a renewable five-year-development plan, laying out how their own corner of the world can best meet the challenges in the years ahead, for the inclusive betterment of their members, new arrivals and visitors.
As a historian, I believe we can cherish our heritage for the good of local communities and the diaspora alike, not simply use it to shake down tourists. Each community can have its own learning and interpretive centre (which can be accommodated in several of the deserted schoolhouses) where family history, school rolls, GAA records and old farm implements, etc, can be showcased by volunteers, while interlinked with similar centres in other communities. Landowners need to be paid to protect archaeological monuments and historic buildings while allowing access to those who want to see them. Using the power of artificial intelligence and virtual reality, we can recreate our past while using this understanding to make plans for an uncertain future.
Cross-community greenways and cycle paths should be easier to develop and interconnect on a regional basis not just for visitors but to take pedestrians and walkers off dangerous roads. Schoolchildren should hear the stories of their local areas and learn their own native history and heritage before it's placed within the wider Irish context.
Finally, we must bring in stronger deterrents against malicious public vandalism and environmental destruction. Planning officials should work with developers and house builders to create sustainable, affordable homes in keeping with the environment, landscape, local heritage and community ethos.
We are only custodians of this part of the world and we should ensure we pass it on in a better condition than we received it. On my own, none of my dreams can ‘save the West’, but if together we decide to dream… then it may be less of ‘Mayo God Help Us’ and more of ‘Mayo Abú!’