I love towns, small towns. Those that get insulted if they’re ever called a village. Those that are laughed at it if they’re ever referred to as a city. Towns that have a bit of attitude about them, an identity, a ballsiness. Towns that have notions.
Maybe this grá in me is because I came from a small town. A place that considered people from outside it as the buffers, and those within it, as the townies. The bulk of the country is made up of such places, and with their demise has come the decline of much of rural Ireland.
There is a reason why the west and north west regions of Ireland are considered disadvantaged, with the balance thrown out slightly by the strength of centres such as Galway City. In the main, the west’s towns have suffered through lack of investment and creative thinking on the part of planners and local authorities.
I’m thinking of this on this day because of something the Small Firms Association opined about on Monday; that the level of dereliction caused by the closure of businesses in towns is something to be mourned.
Properly resourced, towns offer an identity and a core. This morning, I am thinking in particular of how Athenry is to benefit from Dexcom and how the small towns up and down the motorway from it will benefit from the revenue generated from those jobs. It is to be hoped that the county towns and villages will be resourced sufficiently to become homes and birthplaces of the families of those who will work there.
I think too of Mountbellew. Last evening, it was confirmed that the former agriocultural college, now ATU Mountbellew, is to host veterinary courses, to reduce the dependence on one course, to give those interested in careers in veterinary an option other than having to go to the heart of Dublin to learn about the care of small animals and agricultural animals.
Resourceful thinking can give every small town in the west a new purpose in being. Whether it be a college relocating a course, or a local authority relocating a function or an office, a vote of confidence in a town or village will reap rewards. It creates a swagger for a town, it will enable more sandwiches to be sold, more baskets of shopping, different names to appear on the shirts of the local sports club.
An investment in local hubs could mean an extra 100 people in each place could work from their localities every day, creating new centres of activities, and taking cars off the over-stretched commuter routes.
A little bit of innovation can mean a lot to our towns. They need to feel the love.
