Tourism offers the peg on which the hopes of many of Ireland’s struggling towns and villages have been hung. It provides such a broad canvas for community development that traditional avenues are being ignored in favour of cheap, instant promotional activity through the internet. But success relies on careful planning, utilising local skills, community collaboration and determined volunteers.
The review of rural towns in today's paper looks at the qualities required to succeed as Ireland recovers from recession, mass unemployment and emigration. In all cases, local activism has been the primary driver of revival, based on community co-operation and local circumstances. The growing incidence of boarded-up shops in decaying town centres was attributed to inflexibility within the local authority rates system.
Many threatened communities have awoken to the realisation that if they wish to grow and flourish, they need to identify their strengths, plan carefully and do much of the heavy lifting themselves. Excessive dependence on central government and political “pull” inhibited development in the past. Available funding was either sucked into Dublin or spread so widely through national development plans as to be of little value.
This time, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway will receive most development funding up until 2040. Adjoining towns are expected to experience a trickle-down effect. The population is expected to grow by one million, half of it in Dublin, during those 20 years. And while planners are anxious that Dublin should avoid choking on its traffic by developing high-density inner-city living and preventing the growth of commuter towns, tough political decisions have yet to be taken. At the same time, out-of-town shopping centres and one-off rural housing have disrupted traditional retail activity and rural towns are exhibiting signs of decay. A lack of data on the severity of these problems has prompted experts to recommend that investment should be withheld until these difficulties have been quantified.
In the context of Brexit and the financial commitments made to the Ireland 2040 plan, additional State funding will probably be in short supply. Local communities may be better advised to adopt an independent approach and develop their core strengths based on tourism, agri-food, culture and heritage. Successful examples are already there to be emulated. Tourism numbers are growing. So is international and domestic interest in Irish heritage, culture and quality food. The Wild Atlantic Way, along with various greenways and heritage trails, established through local authorities and Fáilte Ireland, has shown the potential for development. Further success, however, depends on careful local planning, unstinting volunteer work and a determination to create jobs while exploiting natural advantages.