An Irishman’s Diary: The economic landscape of south Kerry

The beauty of the south Kerry landscape overwhelmed John Millington Synge when he visited the area.

“One wonders in these places why anyone is left in Dublin, or London, or Paris, when it would be better, one would think, to live in a tent or hut with this magnificent sea and sky, and to breathe this wonderful air, which is like wine in one’s teeth,” he wrote.

The seductive landscape can sometimes hide the economic and social challenges facing this community. They are documented in detail in a glossy publication, Rural Vibrancy in North-West Europe: The Case of South Kerry, which should be essential reading for local and national planners and politicians. Published by the South Kerry Development Partnership, it was compiled by a dynamic team under the guidance of Dr Brendan O'Keeffe from Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

The report was formally launched in the community centre in Listry, near Killarney, which provides facilities for all age groups and is a credit to locals who ensured it was completed in time and within the allocated budget.

South Kerry comprises the southern half of the county, with its northern boundary running from the Cork border, north of Barraduff, Killarney and Killorglin, into the south of the Dingle peninsula as far as Annascaul. It has a population of 52,685 and its biggest town is Killarney.

Killarney, boosted by what now seems to be an all-year tourism trade, is booming. But parts of rural south Kerry tell another story. The boost from tourism is seasonal and young people have left in their droves in that seemingly inevitable tragic Irish cycle of forced emigration.

The report highlights a familiar story of funding cutbacks, growing levels of bureaucracy, the difficulty in recruiting community leaders, managing increasing demands for local services, the challenge of aligning local government and development, depopulation and isolation.

It contains a poignant reference to emigration levels by well-known RTÉ GAA pundit and former Kerry footballer, Pat Spillane, who says he accepted a Government invitation to chair the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas because of the inability of some rural GAA clubs to field a team.

The report also includes the observations of a commentator on a recent visit to a local village.

“Everything is gone. The community is trying to buy the AIB building to turn it into a community amenity. But the community itself is dwindling . . . young people cannot wait to emigrate, even though they are heartbroken doing it.”

The report refers to the mould-breaking work by the late John Healy of The Irish Times in his 1968 book, The Death of an Irish Town, which detailed the decline of his home town of Charlestown, in Mayo. Healy's articles and subsequent book were a powerful piece of social commentary on the town's decline, with the familiar story of official indifference, forced emigration, closed shops and businesses which had thrived in earlier times.

Today, just under five decades later, and despite all the progress made, Healy’s book has a relevance to the social and economically challenged communities to be found in places in south Kerry.

Healy refers to the “big and fatal tidal wave of emigration”, and he recalls a conversation with his brother about a local baker who had sold up and left for England.

“You name a dozen others in Barrack Street who were men when you were a boy and they are gone: you name those who were boys in school with you and they are gone, married in settled in England, America, or Australia or Canada, wherever the English language was spoken . . .”

Echoing what Healy had to say in the 1960s, the report notes that the “need for more streamlined and less onerous bureaucratic control rings loudly from the findings”.

The report is not without optimism, referring to the high levels of vibrancy, dynamism, vision, determination, innovation and knowledge capacity among the people. “Volunteers are the backbone of many communities,” it adds.

It calls for a positive and generous response from public bodies, civil servants and national and EU public representatives to the wealth of statistical evidence presented.

Time will tell. For now, the problems facing south Kerry, mirrored by so many similar communities throughout the country, have been documented in a detailed report.

The people inhabiting the landscape that so enthralled Synge have made their case.