Politics: Mayo bids farewell to defining Eamon Ryan era
No other politician in recent memory has been so impactful, open and honest about his intentions
by Caoimhín Rowland
COUNTY Mayo owes a debt of gratitude to the departing Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan.
No other politician in recent memory has been so impactful, open and honest about his intentions and as equally forthright in his delivery as the oft-maligned Ryan.
No politician has ever been such a lightning rod for abuse than Eamon Ryan despite all the good he has delivered for this county. The people of Erris would have no gas terminal and employment locally that allowed the Mullet to be saved by the ravages of the recession without his support of the controversial project.
Many Mayo farmers now receive an adequate payment for growing organic food sustainably and, lest we forget, our national park, Wild Nephin, currently twinning with Yosemite and set to become a global tourist attraction along the Wild Atlantic Way, opening opportunities for employment via the NPWS and the myriad of seasonal tourism jobs further investment will create.
The ACRES scheme, universally adored by farmers in this county, received huge support from the agricultural sector and now the only critiques are complaints that it isn’t open to all.
This shows us the backing the Green supported scheme has garnered.
Everywhere you look in this county there are signs of Eamon Ryan’s foresight and impact.
Homes being retro-fitted, solar panels adorning roof slates and the reduced public transportation costs primarily benefiting young people.
Country roads now bear witness to public transportation; the fact you can now live in rural Ireland without a car is remarkable to think of in the pre-Ryan era.
No longer does habitation in rural Mayo mean reliance on a car.
Ireland, despite its stereotypically arrogant stance on nature, has been an embarrassing laggard on EU metrics when it comes to biodiversity and forestry.
That looks to be changing swifter than the return of the corncrake’s screech, thanks to the former Green Party leader.
Politics will be a sorry place without him, Mayo has borne the fruits of his vision.
In conversations with Eamon Ryan he has a clear grá for this county, travelling here for climate conferences in Ballina, opening windfarms outside Bellacorick and championing the superb produce available for sale here in Mayo.
His time as a tour guide operator prior to his career in politics, often making pilgrimage to the western seaboard, proves his love.
The fact that it takes a so-called out of touch D4 to enact visceral change to many ordinary people’s lives in this county shows up many of his governing colleagues in Leinster House.
Ryan made the impossible possible, he didn’t lie or mince his words, he nodded off yes but who hasn’t had a quick kip at work. Those seats looked frighteningly comfortable in the convention centre.
Then he was sledged vociferously for wiping his glasses with a surgical mask on RTÉ radio during the Covid. This nation then spent three whole days discussing it like it actually mattered.
Electorally in Mayo, under his leadership the Greens received a record breaking 6.5% share of the vote in 2020. A feat unlikely to be repeated ever again.
Eamon Ryan can be critiqued too, of course. While he has committed to the reopening of the Claremorris to Tuam line, a much needed boost to this county, his commitment hasn’t extended to Collooney.
I fear that stretch of the Western Rail Corridor will never see rail return if we are without forward thinking leaders like Eamon Ryan.
He has backed a greenway along that route and this is something several community leaders in east Mayo have supported also. The issue remains with Mayo county councillors who are slowing the process down.
We should have rail and a greenway. Let us have the cake and eat it for once.
Mayo has the backing of the Minister for Transport and the current line isn’t suitable for modern rail. Then, in time, a campaign to connect Knock airport via the province’s two largest towns will carry more weight.
No one has received more criticism than Eamon Ryan. He was called out by his government colleagues Lisa Chambers and Regina Doherty in some political point-scoring during the election campaign, but Irish politics is a sorry place without him.
Neither of the candidates proposed for a leadership contest would inspire you with confidence.
The Greens will enter a decade of electoral death and many a Mayo person will sit back and think how good we had it under Eamon Ryan.