Ryan’s car pooling notions suggest a party with no clue about rural Ireland

THE Green party may be surfing a wave of popularity at the moment but, if they want to be a serious players when the next Government is formed, its leaders would want to seriously rethink their attitude to rural Ireland and its voters.

Last week Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan raised eyebrows across the country with the suggestion – apparently serious – that people in villages with a population of around 300 people should share 30 cars between them.

That Deputy Ryan thinks this ludicrous idea would be even remotely workable suggests a party whose notions of day-to-day life outside the cities are completely divorced from reality. In most villages there is simply no way such an arrangement could work.

To give just one example, what if one resident needed to attend an emergency hospital appointment and took the car that another local needed to get to work that morning?

Who should lose out in that case, the person with the urgent medical issue or the person trying to hold down one of the few jobs available in many such areas? And what of car insurance, how would that work?

There’s also the unfortunate reality that in most small communities there are, almost always, a few people or families who just don’t get on.

It’s a fact of life and the notion that two families that may have been at loggerheads for generations would bury the hatchet in order to share a car is beyond ridiculous.

In fact the opposite would almost certainly be the case with vehicles in the car pool becoming weapons in familial cold wars.

How convenient to be able to disrupt your irritating neighbours’ holiday plans just by nabbing the car that they needed to get to the airport.

Such unpleasantness may go against the idealised notion of rural life apparently held by city dwellers but it is the reality.

As many critics of Deputy Ryan’s comments have pointed out, rural Ireland is not a theme park for holidaying city folk.

It has many problems and needs – including transport – that need to be taken seriously rather than blithely written off with a glib soundbite.

The Greens have attempted to fight back, claiming Deputy Ryan’s comments have been taken out of context and that coverage doesn’t reflect party policy. However, the fact the remarks were made on live TV leaves them with very little wiggle room.

Make no mistake, the Green Party has a place in Irish politics and an important one at that. Based on the results of the last Local Elections the Green Party’s electoral prospects look bright but, if the party hopes to win any Dáil seats outside the cities, they should look seriously at the message they are sending rural voters.

Why not make a commitment to improving public transport in isolated areas? How about spreading job creation more evenly around the country so people don’t need cars to travel long distances to work?

Rural Ireland needs real solutions for real issues. If the Greens want to get into power they’d do well to remember that.