Special Report: Rural Ireland faces an uphill battle to hold onto services and people
There is a fear now locally that rural Ireland is facing its biggest challenge ever as people are being forced from these areas due to a lack of opportunities. Claire Mulcahy has been taking a look at the latest announcements that are causing concern for people in the region:
Taoiseach slams MacSharry for ‘negativity’ on rural Ireland
The Taoiseach has hit back at Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry accusing him of coming into the Dail chamber week after week with the same negative rhetoric on rural Ireland. Enda Kenny, himself a rural TD, made the comments in response to a number of questions on the situation facing…
Minister Simon Coveney: “The Government will get it right this time”
In planning for what Ireland needs over the next 20 years, Minister Simon Coveney says the government will get it right this time. He was speaking in Sligo for the regional launch of the Ireland 2040 National Framework Plan which sets out how the country might be developed during the…
Sligo businessman: ‘Not enough money in rural plan to fund a footpath’
The head of the new ‘Revive the North West’ campaign says the money allocated under the government’s new rural programme ‘would not fund a footpath’ never mind a town or village. Sligo restauranteur Anthony Gray and the group are taking a protest to the Dail on the 8th of February…
Regional development needed to protect rural Ireland
The head of Irish Rural Link says regional development is the only way to protect rural Ireland. CEO of the organisation Seamus Boland says Dublin is now in crisis and the government has to develop natural ‘regions’ such as a tourism region in the north west. He has made the…
Broadening of services needed in rural post offices
A broadening of services offered is needed to make rural post offices viable. That’s the belief of Tomas Walsh, a member of the save Ballygawley post office committee. There is a threat of closure hanging over the post office there following the recent death postmaster Colm McTiernan. An Post has…
Rural Ireland needs to be made more appealing
Rural Ireland needs to be made more appealing for people to live in once again. That’s the view of Sinn Fein TD Martin Kenny. With up to 300 post offices nationwide threatened with closure the Sligo/Leitrim TD says it highlights the slow death of Rural Ireland. One of those post…