Mayo of 2023 - best it's ever been

By Caoimhín Rowland

All-Ireland Whinger column

MAYO, as we’re all well aware, is a rural county and as rural dwellers, we are all au fait with rural issues. Whether that be the national broadband plan which is kicked down the line like a long vaunted quest for Sam, forever in the distance, or the latest report on Ireland being the 'loneliest' part of Europe and, of course, the largest crux of rural living, farming.

Farming in Ireland is deeply unequal. The profits seen through dairy and beef farming are just not possible for farmers in Mayo.

Take Wexford for example. It’s a coastal county like ours, and both winters are meant to be mild, yet the conditions for farming are wholly different. Our wind and rain are unmatched, fertile lands scarce and our mountainous, boggy terrain means farming is never an easy endeavour.

Yet when rural Ireland is spoken about, it’s never about strawberries in Carnsore Point, the dairying producers who milk for Glanbia and produced yoghurt for Parisiens' overnight oats.

Why is it when farming issues arise and the diatribe of 'rural Ireland' is unfurled that it’s the people of Mayo, Connemara and Donegal whom producers and presenters in RTÉ and Newstalk unearth in their mind's eye?

You’d be forgiven for thinking they still have the idea of the cailleach in the cottage cosying up to the fire with the ass in beside her for warmth.

Rural Ireland, invariably, is used as a way to negate progress. The devil's advocate broadcasters use rural Ireland as a stick to beat environmentalists. Never do they use our idyllic setting for progressive ideas. Whereas modern issues that impact us see rural areas lag in crucial areas.

Access to high-speed broadband is imperative in our digital world. As per the National Broadband Plan website, we should see it rolled out in Mayo by December 2026. Hurrah!

In the meantime, rural areas should be applauded for their online and digital literacy. As per a recent Eurostat report, 35% of rural dwellers in Ireland boast above basic digital skills. That’s 15% above the EU average for rural people at 19.9%. Only rural Finns (41.3%) and Dutch (45.58%) better us in the EU 27.

Stats like that show why Mayo and other rural areas are swiftly becoming attractive places for enterprise relocation and of course multinational corporations. Implementation of digital hubs across the county should be further accelerated, not solely as a place of work but incorporated into community cafés so they are living and vibrant third places. Aiding to combat loneliness and as a gathering spot for young and old. Essentially a mixed-use facility for the community.

The Mayo of 2023, whether we actually feel comfortable saying it out loud for fear of the detractors' wrath, is the best it’s ever been. That doesn’t mean we should start to settle, however.

A university in Castlebar with added courses should bring vibrancy and youth to our county town. Recent hints from Eamon Ryan regarding the Western Rail Corridor could see a transformation of fortune for east Mayo. Potentially we’d boast the first international airport with a train station before too long.

While an inter-urban greenway spanning Westport to Ballina via Castlebar is in the national framework.

Such factors would see Mayo become a true 21st century county.

Our housing crisis is well understood but change should soon be coming there too. Vacant properties are an eyesore but with an increasing population, landowners looking to sell or young families interested in buying know they can get more bang for their buck in rural areas.

Projects by the council are already aimed at urban areas dereliction, all of our towns have vacant flats above shopfronts that a little renovation could see habitable at an affordable rate for young people, thus creating vibrancy in towns and the spin-off that would create.

It is, after all, young people who spend money much more than any other demographic.