This article is from page 22 of the 2012-08-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
A NEW form of decentralisation was on the table for discussion in Lisdoonvarna over the weekend, as Fianna Fáil spokesman on Agriculture, Food and Community Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, called for a reintroduction of the much maligned policy of his former government.
Deputy Ó Cuiv was speaking at the final major panel discussion of the Merriman Summer School alongside MEP Mairéad Mc Guinness at the Pavillion Theatre on Saturday evening. The theme of the discussion was ‘On the Land’ and Ó Cuiv suggested a new targeted form of decentralising as a means of invigorating rural areas.
The outspoken former Fianna Fáil deputy leader said that decentralisation could be carried out again on a more organised and incremental fashion over a longer period.
“I believe that the current Government should continue with a targeted programme of decentralisation,” he said. “Unfortunately, urban areas tend to be socially segregated and, in my view, that is a great ill in our society. Having grown up in Dublin and come to live in Cornamona, I have come to appreciate the strength of community life,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, MEP McGuinness said there was more to rural Ireland than septic tanks and turf-cutting rows. “In a globalised world, there is no room for a mentality of ‘they are for us or they are against us’,” she said.
The Director of this year’s Summer School, Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Bob Collins, said this year’s summer school is about the very future of rural Ireland.
“In current economic conditions, where the easy optimism of a few short years ago has evaporated and where the enduring presence of institutions that have supported rural communities for almost two centuries can no longer be taken for granted, there is much on which to reflect,” he said.