There is no limit to what a rural community can achieve if it pays attention to some simple ground rules, according to the people of Raheen in Co Wexford. There is hardly a village in Ireland that has done more to address its needs over the past decade, and the huge voluntary effort involved is bearing fruit.
Raheen has its own community creche, enabling local women to go out to work; there are information technology training courses, with Internet access available to all; office and secretarial supports are provided to those who need them; there is a newspaper recycling scheme in place, and an artist-in-residence was appointed this year to the local primary school.
These are just some of the initiatives of the recent past but the job is far from finished. The village has now joined forces with the neighbouring communities of Clonroche and Newbawn to draw up a sustainable development strategy for the next decade.
The plan, "A Place to Grow", was the winner recently of a competition organised by County Wexford Partnership to find a model rural community for the new millennium, and was compiled with the assistance of environmental consultant Anne Behan.
Ambitious targets have been set, from a plan to cut waste by 50 per cent by the end of next year to the development of off-farm enterprises and a tourism project specifically aimed at students of history.
To achieve them, it's back to the ground rules which have served the Raheen Community Development Group, the oldest of the three involved, so effectively in the past. Essentially, the group says, you should "think small" and keep everyone involved. To get big results, you must first set achievable targets and take one step at a time.
"Everything that's been done has been done with quality and everyone was consulted on everything," says Marie-Louise Byrne. "There was never anything that one person winged it on or which depended on one person to make it work."
Marie-Louise is supervisor of the mobile information technology unit provided by FAS, which stands beside Raheen Community Centre, built by locals at a cost of just over £33,000 in 1992.
The centre and the IT unit are the hub of activity in the village and its hinterland, which has a population of 550. Many of those availing of computer training courses are women seeking to rejoin the labour force or acquire the skills to work from home.
The training courses have proved so successful that FAS has indicated its willingness to support a permanent multimedia centre on the site. This new "green" building will also incorporate a childcare unit - the creche is currently housed in the community centre - and is due to be completed by autumn next year.
A recent initiative has seen locals deposit their newspapers at the centre for collection and recycling in Wexford town.
The next project, says development committee member Mr Mogue Curtis, will be to restore a cave in the area used as a hideout by an infamous 18th century highwayman, Jack Freaney.
For a group thinking small, an awful lot is being achieved. "When I grew up here the only thing I wanted to do was get away," says Marie-Louise. She did leave, at 17, but eventually returned.
"Now people have the option of staying if they want. Rural Ireland used to be looked at as the place where the food was produced for the urban centres. Now it is capable of meeting the needs of the people who live there."
With the three groups now working in tandem - Clonroche Development Association and Newbawn Community Sports Ground Committee are the other two - there is nothing that can't be achieved, locals believe. Together, the three serve a population of about 3,500.
But while the sponsorship and technical support of agencies such as County Wexford Partnership, FAS and the Department of Social Welfare are appreciated, Ms Molly Carroll, another member of the development group, says State agencies could do a lot more to help rural communities to develop.
There are many grants available, she says, but the red tape involved in applying for them is off-putting for voluntary organisations. "It's time the procedures were designed with the needs of the applicants, rather than the agencies, in mind. I know safeguards are necessary but procedures must be simplified."
It would take more than red tape, however, to stop Raheen, a village which has no pub and two post offices. Perhaps there's another lesson there somewhere.
