The story of Belmullet and its resource curse
By Caoimhín Rowland
“That’s no benefit to a man in Belmullet.”
Those were the words said to me over five years ago in Ballina Mart in the run up to the 2020 general election.
The new N5 proposal was released to the masses and excitement had been sweeping west Mayo over news of a potential dual carriageway in the county.
But a farmer from Erris, who told me he campaigned, canvassed and carried Fine Gael to elections gone by in the windswept barony, wasn’t going to do it this time.
The polls later reflected that.
It was an Erris woman who almost topped them, her campaign was simple and it seems all Rose Conway-Walsh has to do for the upcoming election, much like her party colleagues, is merely exist.
There’s a genuine sense of isolation felt in Belmullet at the best of times, an hour away to the hospital along the dreadful R312, diminishing services offered in the community hospital and an enduring culture of emigration which shows no sign of abating in the modern age.
This coupled with decreased local democracy bears little fruit for an Erris harvest.
Witnessing long standing businessman and Fine Gael Councillor Gerry Coyle in action at the supposed Westport/Belmullet Municipal District meeting, which in my view should relent the charade and call itself what it is, the modern day Westport Urban Council, so few mentions are denoted to Belmullet and its environs, at times you can see the dejection on his face.
Even though the chair is Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Carey from Belmullet, there’s not much those two can do, and surely when we hear, so much from local representatives in Mayo about national government’s plans for ‘balanced regional development,’ we should also look to implement more balance when it comes to allocating funds and time to less developed and struggling parts of our own county.
The point was made by the forlorn Coyle at the aforementioned meeting in Castlebar that the people of Belmullet are being turned off the idea of renewable energy.
All they see is ‘windmill after windmill after windmill’.
Indeed any visitor to the area would be struck at the constant sight of the white monoliths once you leave Crossmolina and head further west. Bellacorrick itself, once home of the famed Bord na Móna plant, has heard plans of a hydrogen storage facility to be built in the area.
Marking another source of energy for the whole island, yet the people of Erris reap few benefits.
It's amazing to get this far in the discussions of energy sources and not mention the Shell gas field.
It was mentioned at the Mary Robinson climate conference, not by ‘Madame Elder’ as the Ballina President was monikered by long-standing activist Maura Harrington, who lambasted the UN member of Elders for ignoring the plight of the Shell to Sea campaign.
Instead, according to Maura, she apparently “invented climate justice out in Africa” when injustices were happening a mere “hop, skip and a jump out the road” from where Eamon Ryan was addressing the assembled crowd in Ballina.
It was remarkable, in the setting of north Mayo for a climate conference, that little was spoken about Shell.
It is not the people of Erris who are rewarded with lower costs on their electricity from the gas field, but instead bear the consequences of the light pollution in the area.
Anyone living near or along the gas pipeline would have noticed increased activity due to the routine testing of the facility. Another legacy of Belmullet’s blatant resource curse.
A term which is more commonly used in Africa, defined as “a paradoxical situation in which a country underperforms economically, despite being home to valuable natural resources”.
A sentiment more typically suited to the Congo than Carrowteige.
For us to maintain a buy-in to renewable energy, climate justice needs to be taken into consideration locally and our communities feel the benefits.
Gerry Coyle, an avid sportsman, noted the only heated swimming pool in the area - Broadhaven Bay Hotel - was closing down due to increased costs.
In the same week Ryan O’Donoghue, a sporting star the pride of Belmullet, spoke to JOE.ie about that very hotel and how his relationship with the cleaner would allow him access to the spa to recover from intense boxing training and aid in helping the prodigious talent make weight for fights. A brief example of the benefit to a community an outlet like that offers, but saunas and pools cost money, a lot of it.
Yet, in a time of more energy being produced by Erris than ever before through wind, gas and potentially hydrogen in the future, why isn’t more being done to the benefit of the barony?