Proposals for the development of two adjoining Clare villages provide a model for other communities, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Mr Noel Davern, has said. The villages are Crusheen and Ballinruan.
The community development plan, published this week, was drawn up following consultation with householders in the two interlinked communities. "It really is the `bottom up' approach, which is what we have been looking for all along," Mr Davern said. "It is an example for anyone else in the country to look at what has been done in Clare."
Representatives from Co Galway's Kiltormer Development Company and Erkina Development Association, Rathdowney, Co Laois, who are undertaking similar projects, were present at this week's inauguration of the project.
Crusheen and Ballinruan, which share the same parish eight miles from Ennis, recognised the threats of large housing developments on the area but also the effect migration was having on the composition of their population of 750. "Ennis was attracting our parishioners away," Michael O'Doherty, a member of the steering committee, said.
An objective of the plan is to have a consultative process with the planning authority on any housing development, with a limit of about 30 houses per year being built on average. The village of Crusheen, on the N18 between Ennis and Galway, is to be bypassed under the National Roads Authority programme. This is seen as an opportunity to develop local transport initiatives.
While rural areas have a higher rate of car ownership, "this rate can mask difficulties faced by non-car-owning households", the plan says.
There was "a preponderance of public transport options along the main roads" between Galway, Ennis and Limerick, but no reliable services along lesser roads and a need for the funding of local transport initiatives.
"Little has been done in Ireland to examine the possibility of establishing local bus services that can link in with regional buses and so develop a symbiotic transport system which integrates both local and regional needs and possibilities."
Among the other proposals are provision of a parish newsletter to be distributed to every household; a Website; and a community advice bureau.