Sir Frank McDonald's tale of woe in Connemara, or more correctly Leo Hallissey's, is disturbing both in its truths and fallacies.
I agree wholeheartedly that the trend to foreign or distant ownership of local housing is perilous for the local people and culture.hand-waving. Not only would it totally fail to address the real root of the problem, but it would give politicians an escape from responsibility by allowing them to claim something was being done.
The root cause of the problem - surprise, surprise - is lack of local employment opportunities. Where are the original occupiers of the houses which are being sold to distant owners? Off working elsewhere, I would imagine.
There is a classic Catch-22 situation here: beautiful places where people would like to live are beautiful because they are free of the offices, factories and industrial parks that provide the jobs and incomes that allow one to live there.
Governments cannot generate meaningful long-term employment other than civil service jobs. Only private enterprise can do that. What the Government can do is create conditions that make local employment an attractive proposition for private enterprise.
I can think of one way you could provide employment in remote areas without spoiling those areas - telecommuting. Many jobs nowadays are computer-based - or could be made so and could as well be done from a cottage in Letterfrack or Recess as in an office building in Dublin.
Three things are required to make this happen. People with the right skills; a suitable telecommunications infrastructure with low costs; irresistible economic incentives for businesses to provide such jobs. These are all matters the government could address.
Perth,
Australia