Sir, – Tomás M Creamer (September 25th) makes a valid point about people going where the jobs are. Traditionally this has been the cities and this movement has seen rural areas throughout Europe denuded of young talented people and families. These people are the lifeblood of any community's future.
However, with the right kind of infrastructure the kind of urban jobs associated with city living can become quite feasible in rural towns and villages. The debate is too simplistic to call rural versus urban. Many people living in rural Ireland live an urban lifestyle and have little to do with the farming industry. I call these people “rurbanites”.
I am involved in a campaign to reinvent the closed railway line from Collooney in Co Sligo to Athenry in Co Galway as a greenway. Our campaign group is also suggesting the route should be used as a conduit for internet connectivity, to deliver a greenway facility to help our tourism trade and to become a jobs enabler by delivering the technical and power infrastructure we need to generate “rurban” jobs.
The “rurbanite” economy and those working in it could be a driving force in regenerating rural towns and villages. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN QUINN,
Enniscrone, Co Sligo.
Sir, – As a regular visitor to Kiltimagh to visit family, I was horrified at a local's quoted suggestion that the derelict houses in the Main Street should be bulldozed and replaced with holiday homes (Rosita Boland, "Half Dead – a town in rural Ireland", Weekend, September 19th). Why would you want to build houses that by their very nature are only occupied for part of the year?
The phenomenon of shops dying out in town centres, and being replaced with out-of-town stores, is happening throughout Ireland and the UK, and it’s not going to change. The businesses that remain and flourish are those that supply a service supermarkets cannot offer. Niche businesses, often with a personal following, such as coffee shops, hairdressers, and so on.
As the article says, Kiltimagh is a bedroom community of people working elsewhere. A visitor would never guess that by the state of Main Street. It looks abandoned and neglected. It is not a vast number of buildings, but the visual impact is huge.
One scheme, which has been tried successfully in the UK, would involve a local renewal body buying the derelict houses, which would make excellent homes for young buyers, who could then be provided with a low-cost loan to restore them. – Yours, etc,
ROSALEEN GARVEY,
London.