Limerick - One story but indicative of whats happening across Rural Ireland.

Just read this on Breakingnews and for me, just like the Seamus Sherlock story, it sums up how rural Ireland is going to be doubly battered - by the recession and the Govt. response.  

"A Limerick man has had to close his family business of 121 years and emigrate to Australia because of the recession and is adamant that he will never return to Ireland.

Forty-seven-year-old Declan Murphy has said he was forced to close Murphy and Son Menswear in Newcastle West - a business which first opened its doors in 1889.

1889 is one year before Michael Collins was even born. Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan is a student of history. He should appreciate that while that business survived land wars, world wars, guerilla war and civil war it didnt survive his administration.

Father of three Declan Murphy said he can no longer support his family with the business and has made the difficult decision to emigrate."

Both Rural and Urban Ireland are going to get it in the neck. I am not saying its better in one place or the other. Rural and Urban Ireland will be affected in similar and also different ways. A town smaller than Newcastle West may not have the critical mass required to even launch new shops and establish alternative providers, that large population centers will have. Larger population centers may well have the critical mass but they too will face unique problems and hardships associated with an urban context.

NewcastleWest town has a population of about 11000. In the Social Welfare office in the town there are 3,739 people now registered - people from the town and its wider economic hinterland. This is replicated across rural Ireland - urban centers being stripped of amenities and services while their hinterlands enter into a particularly severe economic decline.

Its sad to think that soon in rural Ireland there will be many towns with no post office, no bank, no clothes shops, no jobs and no amenities, even no Gaelic football teams, no hospitals nearby. The sheer breadth of the assault being carried out on rural Ireland is awe inspiring. The last budget also targetted rural Ireland harshly.

During the Tan War the enemy army tried to destroy rural areas of resistance by burning towns and destroying centres of economic activity - to break the backbone of small communities. They didnt succeed but Fianna Fail might just - they have a lot done and more to do.

 

Shouting Stop - the return of emigration.

Over 5,000 people a month are now choosing to emigrate from Ireland every month. Just like in the 80s communities are being drained of their lifeblood and their futures threatened by emigration. The death of rural Ireland was a consistent theme for years. We all thought this era had ended with the advent of the Celtic Tiger but we didnt figure on Fianna Fail and developers gambling with the future of Irish communities and losing.

An example of the destructive return of emigration is the village of Gneeveguilla in County Kerry. Gneeveguilla is well known for its Athletics club which epitomised the spirit of Irish communities - a communal spirit, a volunteer ethos, a sense of local pride.

Another expression of that local spirit is naturally the local GAA club. Gneeveguilla is a small village and emigration can quickly make its mark. The BBC noted that the local GAA club is being particulary hard hit by emigration (and isn't it typical that we must rely on foreign media to bring such a story to our attention rather than having RTE report on it. State broadcaster? yeah right!)

Emigration has made such an impact that the local GAA chairman is worried about the team’s collapse because so many players are likely to have eimgrated in the near future.

The collapse of the Irish construction industry hit rural Ireland especially hard. As economist Ronan Lyons demonstrated construction of new housing was particularly feverish in the west. Voters in Kerry and elsewhere would do well to remember that the reason their sons and daughters are emigrating is because the Govt. singularly failed to build a sustainable economy. All the way up the west coast in Donegal they will face the exact same problem. While the govt. dallies over the Donegal By Election the rate of unemployment for males under 25 in Donegal is estimated at up to 75% making Donegal a youth unemployment blackspot.

The Economic and Social Research Institute estimated that 120,000 will have emigrated in 2010 and 2011 combined, if the current rate continues.

Additional proof of the scale was evident last week when Eurostat revealed figures showing that the south of Ireland had the highest net outflow of population in the EU.

Once again the prospect of Irish communities withering away is a possible future.

We have been here before. John Healy famously shouted stop about the looming death of his homebirth place Charlestown. He firmly pointed the finger at the failed policies of the Govt. which did so little to save small town Ireland.

43 years later we need another John Healy as history repeats itself. Ogra Shinn Fein are currently running a campaign to highlight the current level of Emigration in Ireland