Ronan O’Reilly
One-horse town misery guts ought to get a grip
NOTHING’S perfect. Regardless of what the subject is, there will always be pluses and minuses involved. By way of example, just take the difference in living.
The benefits of settling down in an urban or suburban location are clear in terms of a wider range of amenities, better employment opportunities and so on. But the far higher cost of living is one of the many downsides that also have to be factored into the equation.
By the same token, the advantages of living in a rural setting include a cleaner environment, more affordable homes and a slower pace of life. But there are obvious drawbacks there as well.
You pays your money and you takes your choice…
Nonetheless, there is still a strong case to be made that rural Ireland suffered more than any other part of the country in the aftermath of the economic crash.
Post offices and Garda stations in countless townlands and villages pulled down their shutters for the last time. So did any number of pubs and corner shops. The net result was entire communities being thrown into individual isolation.
Against that backdrop, I’d have expected a universal welcome for Transport Minister Shane Ross’s plans to extend the bus service in rural areas. The scheme, which comes into effect this month and involves 50 routes in 19 counties, will operate between 6pm and 11pm.
Speaking about the project in recent weeks, Mr Ross said it was a response to ‘the issue of rural isolation’ and explained: ‘It’s for communities to get together, go off and play bingo, if they want to go to the pub they can. It’s not all pub-orientated.’
What’s not to like? Quite a lot, judging by the reaction of some of our public representatives. Predictably, the scheme was rubbished at the very outset by the Healy-Rae brothers.
Now Fianna Fáil TD Kevin O’Keeffe (no, me neither) has thrown in his tuppenceworth as well. At a meeting of the Oireachtas Transport Committee last week, he suggested that publicans should instead be issued with ‘DIY alcohol test units’ that customers could use for ‘guidance’ before deciding whether to get behind the wheel.
Maybe I’m missing the point here, but I thought the whole reason the remaining rural pubs were half-empty all the time was because of tougher regulations on drink-driving. Besides, I know of at least one pub which introduced these kits around 15 years ago and then swiftly abandoned them.
But, of course, none of this is really about pubs, buses or DIY breath tests. It is more to do with a particular style of petty politicking.
There has always been a certain class of rural TD whose principal mission in life is to constantly remind constituents that they’re being disadvantaged by some mysterious metropolitan elite. I’d love to know how often the Healy-Rae boys have spat out the words ‘up above in Dublin’ when puffing themselves up into a state of anger over some imagined slight.
Nobody, least of all this column, disputes that people in all parts of the country must have access to proper hospital care, reliable broadband and other essential services. But it is simply ridiculous to suggest that every one-horse town should be kitted out with the same range of facilities as large urban centres like Dublin or Cork.
You pays your money and you takes your choice…
We know from the results of the recent referendum that there is no longer a real urban/rural divide in this country, if indeed there ever was. But it is in the interest of some politicians to pretend it does exist – and that they’re the only ones protecting their voters from those dastardly, sharp-suited city slickers.
There is absolutely no doubt that the people of rural Ireland have been badly let down by successive governments down through the years. But they can equally point the finger of blame at an entire rogues’ gallery of cynical parish-pump TDs – especially those more interested in gravy trains than rural bus services.