Mayo communities urged to support rural party proposal

The chairperson of Keenagh Development, Brendan Lavelle, has issued a plea for rural communities in Mayo to support the call by Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice for a political party focused on representing rural parishes.

Mr. Lavelle stated: "In my 17 years as chair of our local non-profit organisation, all I see is steady decline of once vibrant communities.

"The post office goes first, usually, then the pub, the shop and once the national school is gone, the writing is on the wall that rural community will disappear very quickly.

"The vast wealth of our natural resources goes elsewhere and we are left to wither. There is little or no investment in infrastructure, housing nor anything else except wind farms in rural Ireland.

“One of our finest poets, Oliver Goldsmith, wrote the Deserted Village to highlight rural decline over 300 years ago. Frankly, nothing has changed.

“If my community were north of the border today, in Tyrone for example, we would have a steady stream of income from our local wind farm, Oweninny, by far the largest and most profitable in Ireland.

"But we get nothing remotely approaching that here. If we had those resources we could build a crescent of six or eight small affordable three bed houses at the heart of the village to house young families and guarantee our survival and the survival of our national school going forward.

“I absolute believe that well-meaning people of all political stripes who believe in the intrinsic value of our rural culture should have the conversation about pooling our political power to get a seat, or seats, and representation in the halls of power that will deliver real results for the heartland.

"The State only pays lip service to the concept of sustainable development.

“The wealth is, and always has been, extracted and sent elsewhere.”