New dentist for Grange village
DENTIST Brian McCaughey is the newest business to set up in Grange.
Having spent the last eight years commuting to Donegal Town, he decided to move his practice to Grange just before Christmas.
“Why commute when I can just walk down to work and go down to Streedagh at lunchtime, which I did,” he said.
He got no Government support but is philosophical about it: “I got no support here other than the Government are allowing me to treat medical card patients. That’s life isn’t it?”
“It’s a capitalist system so you have to fend for yourself. I certainly got no grants. In the UK they give dentists grants to set up in rural areas but not here. Once I get enough to support my family and pay my bills it’s fine,” he said.
Brian believes Sligo and the Grange area in particular have not been as badly hit as Donegal in the recession.
“You only have to look at Donegal to see how poor that county really is. People don’t have a whole lot and there’s big emigration. In Donegal every second man was gone to Scotland or the UK or the States for work. Some of them were gone three months at a time. I haven’t noticed that here yet. The Civil Service and Education - that’s what’s sustaining people around here,” he said.
“If there’s more industry everyone gets a spin- off. It’s the crux of every society. Once we get jobs, it all follows on,” he said.