Rural areas need to fight back

■ The recent announcement by An Post that 161 post offices from around the country are likely to close in the not too distant future sounds the death knell for many isolated rural communities. This is a direct attack on rural Ireland and our countryside.

In any rural community the local post office, shop and pub are an essential part of the local fabric. They are an important focal point and centres of social activity in many isolated rural areas, particularly along the western seaboard.

Unfortunately this announcement by An Post comes neatly packaged and appears to be stamped, signed, sealed and delivered by the powers that be during the peak holiday season. The phasing out of rural communities must be discouraged at every opportunity by our public representatives in Dáil Éireann in the months and years ahead. These community hubs must be maintained, supported and provided with improved business models so as to attract the local customers to use these facilities on a far greater scale than heretofore.

If rural Ireland is to survive, grow and reach its full potential going forward it needs to fight back and be more proactive in helping itself by working together with the State agencies in finding workable solutions to the many problems that exist in the cities, towns and villages across our countryside.

If the present policy of continued drip-feed closure of vital services in the rural parts of our country is allowed to continue unchecked, it will only create a vast wasteland, where only the wailing cry of the vanishing curlew will break through the deathly silence.

TomTowey Cloonacool, Co Sligo