Roadshow highlights issues facing rural Meath

The future of health services at Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, as well as broadband, pylons, energy supply, tourism and educational services were the major topics at a public discussion focusing on issues affecting County Meath which drew a large crowd on Thursday evening last to the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan. The meeting was part of a Calor Gas-supported rural Ireland nationwide road show to highlight challenges experienced by rural communities. The discussion featured panellists Thomas Byrne, Fianna Fail TD, Damien English, Fine Gael TD, Fergus Finlay, chief executive of Barnardos; Pádraig Cribben, chief executive, Vintners Federation of Ireland and resident of Summerhill, and Sarah Carey, Irish Times columnist and resident of Enfield. Among those who took part in the public discussion were Meath County Councillors, town councillors, deputy president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, Eddie Downey, and representatives from a number of local interest groups, such as Tara/Skryne Valley Pressure Group, Women’s Oldcastle Network, members of local Chambers of Commerce and the general public. Addressing the issue of energy supply in Meath, Sarah Carey said: “I think we are going to have to start making the connection between where our energy comes from and how it is delivered to our house. People really like the sound of wind energy because they think it’s free because the wind is just there. But supplying wind energy is actually one of the most expensive ways, in terms of generation and distribution. And even then, anytime someone puts in an application for a wind farm, people object, because they don’t want the turbines near them. Then you have a situation where we’re actually importing nuclear power from England.” Deputy English said Ireland was needlessly spending billions importing energy into this country, and that there was “an obsession in this country with large-scale production of energy”. He said he had visited a town in Austria no bigger than Kells that, through implementing a series of green initiatives, has turned what was an area of 80 per cent unemployment into 120 per cent employment by producing their own energy and have attracted in 60 new companies. “All locally-produced in a small rural area, with grass, crops and wood and so on. It’s small-scale, very simple and very effective,” he added. Commenting on the topic of energy, Thomas Byrne said: “It is a national hypocrisy that we are prepared to import nuclear energy and not prepared to produce it ourselves. I think we need a national debate on issues such as this.” Eddie Downey said that, in addition to agriculture, tourism remarkably remained a largely untapped resource for Meath. “In relation to the World Heritage Site of Newgrange - if it was the lakes of Killarney, we would be falling over ourselves “diddly-eying” people. We need to develop tourism in a serious way. Day-tripping from Dublin is about all we’re getting,” he claimed. Fergus Finlay, who said he had spent a large amount of time in Meath as his mother has lived for the last 30 years at Dunsany Cross, spoke of broadband being a huge problem for rural Ireland. Mr Finlay said that crime and antisocial behaviour were also of particular concern to people. In addition, he said that in his travels up and down the country during the course of his work, he found that people felt “a sense of betrayal - by politics, by the Church, by the banks, builders and by some of the professions. There is a feeling that is something beyond anger. People are now searching for a new sense of direction,” he added. Irish Vintners Federation CEO Padraig Cribben said the high level of red tape involved in setting up a business was scaring budding entrepreneurs from pursuing their goals. In relation to the hospitality trade, he identified 11 different authorities with which businesses must comply, and called for a one-stop-shop to encourage and facilitate start-up enterprises. The contributions outcomes from the roadshow discussions will feed directly into a report for all Oireachtas members which will be presented at an event hosted for TDs, Senators and MEPs in Dublin in November. This event will be hosted by broadcaster John Bowman. The series of meetings are part of a wider conversation currently taking place across Europe, where isolation of rural communities is a common problem. This initiative, entitled 'Future of Rural Energy in Europe - FREE’, is also happening in countries such as Holland, Italy, Germany, France and Denmark.