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Rural areas could become country’s economic powerhouse
Country communities can become the economic powerhouse for the West of Ireland, according to a key state agency.
Referring to ‘rural Ireland’, the Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) has predicted there is ‘life in the old dog yet’.
David Minton, Director of NWRA, one of the region’s key funding agencies, said rural Ireland is far from dead, and it has the potential to become an economically powerful region in its own right.
Mr Minton said rural communities have three key strengths – its people, energy and resources – and they can be harnessed to make rural Ireland a force to be reckoned with.
“Instead of ushering in its demise, we should see rural Ireland as a region with huge untapped potential and the capacity to lead the emergence of vibrant new economies,” he said.
“Rural Ireland is far from dead. In fact, it’s changing, adapting, reshaping. It has responded to international trends and survived. The people of rural Ireland are the leaders of this global technology change. If anything, we should be asking, how we serve it better? Ireland needs rural Ireland. All we have to do is connect its strengths.
“We need its people, its energy, its resources, its space and its creativity. Ushering in its demise is misguided. Rural Ireland in the future could be a net exporter of energy, water, services and global technology solutions. I see the emergence of new economies and rural Ireland will lead it,” Mr Minton added.
His comments come as the recurrent debate about the future of rural; Ireland rages, with issues such as possible cuts to transport links, poor broadband connectivity and the closure of vital services that connect communities to the fore.
He predicted the bright future for rural Ireland ahead of the ONE Region: ONE Vision conference being organised by NWRA, which will take place in Sligo this December.
It will include debates on entrepreneurship, population loss, jobs, wealth and connectivity in rural areas along the western seaboard.
The conference will also explore the unique possibilities on offer to innovators and job creators in rural communities, “discussing how changing conditions could enhance what’s already one of the most sensational places to live on the continent of Europe.”
Speakers include RTÉ broadcaster Richard Curran, who hosted TV’s ‘Battle for Rural Ireland’, the ESRI’s Chief economist Dr. Edgar Morgenroth, and broadcaster and environmentalist Duncan Stewart and Oliver Daniels of the Insight Centre.
The conference promises to “throw open the doors of possibility and answer challenging questions.”
Mr Minton added: “There will be a focus on what more can be done to maintain rural communities, to build a sustainable future for young people, to create the conditions to enable wealth generation in rural Ireland. These and other questions will be tackled. How do we promote our region’s creativity, space, resources and energy? How do we turn possibilities into reality?”
In January 2015, NWRA replaced the old Border Midland and Western Regional Assembly, which was one of two regions established in 1999 to tap into European structural funds.
Headquartered in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon the main role of the NWRA is to manage Border-Midland-West regional operational programmes; monitor the impact of EU and Irish funding on the west and northwest; promote coordination in the provision of services; and ensure national policies take the regions into account.
ONE Region: One Vision will take place at The Model, in Sligo, on December 8 from 1pm to 5pm.
Places can be booked online.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
