This article is from page 2 of the 2005-11-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
TALK of a possible coalition between Fine Gael and the Green Party could af- fect the larger party’s rural vote in the next election, according to rural housing lobbyist, Jim Connolly.
Speaking to The Clare People, the sec- retary of the Irish Rural Dwellers’ Asso- ciation warned that “courting the Greens is a high risk strategy when looking for votes in rural Ireland”’.
Mr Connolly accused the Green Party of being totally against one-off hous- ing, adding that Green county council- lor Brian Meaney expressed such views when he addressed the IRDA conference in Kilkee last September.
Cllr Meaney countered that Mr Con- nolly was listening to the “honeyed words of Fianna Fail, and they are the ones directing policy. Where are the Green Party members that are influenc-
ing this (one-off housing) policy?” he asked.
“Mr Connolly is blinkered in his thinking and his logic. He needs to re- visit some of the comments made to him in the past by members of larger parties. I went back (to Kilkee) and gave policy and no one else did,’ he said.
Cllr Meaney sent a transcript of his speech to The Clare People. In it he said, “T wish to state clearly that the Green Party is fully committed to the develop- ment and prosperity of rural areas.
‘Development and prosperity has to be achieved in a balanced and a sustainable fashion, and no reasoned argument can be made to allow uncontrolled develop- ment, be that badly-designed and sited commercial development, or uncon- trolled ribbon development along every road in the country.”
Cllr Meaney continued, “We believe the best way to maintain and increase
population numbers in rural areas, based on the evidence of the recent census, 1s to support villages and clusters, as vil- lages and clusters have held their popu- lation better than scattered communities in the open countryside.
‘Areas of population loss, as indicated by CLAR maps, match areas with poor or non-existent village and cluster struc- ture. This lack of structure is the main reason these areas suffered more popu- lation loss than others.
“Therefore, we believe that the best way to address population loss in weak areas is to create new villages or village clusters and to actively prevent further dispersal of settlement,’ he said.
Meanwhile Mr Connolly called on Fine Gael to publish its policy on one- off housing. He said while Deputy Paul Connaughton (FG) was very supportive of rural housing, he was speaking per- sonally.