Sociologist Dr Micheál Mac Gréil believes his “deserted village” message is reflected in the census figures. The population drop in three western counties – Donegal, Mayo and Sligo – when overall numbers on the island are increasing is “sad” and “predictable”, he says.
The census shows declines over the past five years in Donegal (-1.5 per cent), Mayo (-0.2 per cent) and Sligo (-0.1 per cent), while South Tipperary, Roscommon and Leitrim grew by less than 1 per cent.
“This reflects a policy by the EU to gentrify, rather than develop, the west of Ireland,” Dr Mac Gréil says.
The Maynooth University sociologist and Jesuit had forecast that uneven economic development would result in a drain from rural areas almost two decades ago.
His study Quo Vadimus, for the Tuam archdiocese in 1998, warned of the "Galway factor", where massive growth in urban areas would suck lifeblood from smaller towns and villages.
TDs unite
In the census Galway is one of five cities which has grown faster than its surrounding county with an increase of 5.3 per cent compared to 2.2 per cent in its hinterland.
“Front-loading infrastructure such as the Western Rail Corridor is crucial if we are to stop further depopulation,” he says. “
One of the reasons why Ireland failed as an economic unit after the 1801 Act of Union is that no cities were built west of the Shannon after that.”
Local government has been “undermined” to the extent that people feel disenfranchised, and this was also a factor in the Brexit referendum in Britain, Dr Mac Gréil believes.
“ Knock airport founder Monsignor James Horan once said all TDs in the west should unite and forget party differences after each general election. I think there is merit in that.”
A tendency by Independent TDs who are part of a new alliance to “focus on their own patch”, rather than unite in the interests of the wider region, is a key flaw in the new Government, according to former Kerry footballer Pat Spillane.
Mr Spillane, who chaired a 2014 study published by the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas (Cedra), notes that there is “no real unity, no co-ordination among these Independents on rural issues”.
Most not in farms
“Until such time as there is one rural voice, there will be divide-and-conquer approaches by administration with no one able to take the government to task,”Mr Spillane said.
“People think that the Irish Farmers’ Association represents rural Ireland, but the majority of the rural population is living outside the farm gate.”
The recent creation of a rural affairs division within the Department of the Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht was like “asking that Minister to manage the Kerry, Dublin and club football teams all at once”.
