Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the biggest problems facing rural Ireland has been the lack of investment in our towns and villages that over decades has resulted in the depopulation of once vibrant communities. My county, Cavan, has, like most of the Border region, endured an unprecedented level of decline, not least in those towns and villages where several empty, and sometimes derelict, buildings blight the main streets. These decaying structures dishearten and demoralise the people who reside in these towns and villages, as well as anyone living in the neighbouring hinterlands. The buildings in question are usually a mixture of residential and business premises, and sometimes a combination of both. Many are older structures that in the past were an intrinsic part of a uniquely Irish rural streetscape but now these same buildings have, because of years of neglect, become run down. They are unwanted eyesores and a blight on the landscape, and illustrate the failure of successive Governments to support rural Ireland.

The cost of renovating these buildings is frequently excessive. In some cases, the buildings are in an appallingly dangerous condition and are potential deathtraps that are easily accessible, especially for children whose natural inclination is to explore such structures. The years of rural neglect that these crumbling structures represent remind us of the failure of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led Governments to implement the type of policies and vision that would have sustained rural communities into the future.

In recent years, the level of decline has accelerated at an alarming rate. Towns and villages have lost vital services such as post offices, banks or Garda stations. This has, in turn, impacted on the viability of other businesses such as small shops, pubs, cafes and hardware stores, all of which are vital to ensuring social cohesion. In the small village of Kilnaleck, where I am from, I can easily count ten properties which are lying vacant, some of which are in a terrible state of disrepair. In the neighbouring town of Ballyjamesduff, the Percy French Hotel was once a renowned establishment. Now it lies derelict and is an eyesore.

When I canvassed in Swanlinbar in February, I asked the local man accompanying me why we were not canvassing a certain row of houses, only for him to tell me they were all empty. The same story could be told about towns and villages all over Cavan, Monaghan, Meath and, indeed, Ireland. The roll-out of rural broadband would help to keep people in rural Ireland instead of forcing large numbers of our population to gravitate towards large urban centres, especially Dublin. Better road infrastructure is also essential, especially in the Border region.

However, it is 20 years since I, as a councillor on Cavan County Council, considered plans to upgrade the M3 from Dublin to Meath to extend into Cavan and bypass Virginia. The work to extend this busy road failed to materialise. The M3 still stops at Cavan and with the county council still considering plans and routes, we continue to live with bottlenecks in places like Virginia.

I acknowledge that there are several schemes such as the rural regeneration scheme and the national vacant housing reuse scheme. However, the uptake on the latter scheme has been pathetic with less than a third of its target achieved. The rural regeneration and development fund is badly needed but there are doubts that it will achieve its aims of pumping life back into smaller towns and villages. Bureaucracy will make it difficult to access as with so many previous schemes.

There needs to be a straightforward process in place when administering this scheme so that it can be easily accessed and of benefit to the community. It should not be so inaccessible that it can only be exploited by some greedy developer who sees an opportunity to buy up property cheaply, renovate using funding and sell on at a large profit. Schemes such as these need to be properly funded and carefully planned if the Government is serious about reversing rural neglect.

There is also a need for an immediate time-limited review of these schemes with a view to setting ambitious targets for the return of vacant homes back into use and for the regeneration of our towns and villages from empty shells to vibrant communities. This must be part of a wider vision for rural areas which if implemented can, I believe, go some way to reversing the serious decline or rural counties such as Cavan and the resulting depopulation and restore once-thriving communities which are now struggling to survive.

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