An Bord Snip Nua is where it’s at for the news media right now and the ‘big ticket items’ - public sector job cuts and social welfare cuts - that have got the attention to date. However the really interesting detail may be contained in the minutiae of the report - and there’s plenty there to excite people in Galway!
If you examine the official figures and consider the key demographics in Galway city and county - age, occupations, socio-economic background for instance - you might find them to be not terribly different from the national averages.
As a result, you would expect to find the same aspects of the report to be of concern to Galway people as elsewhere. To a large degree this is of course the case, but a closer consideration reveals some specific areas that will cause sleepless nights for Galway politicians!
Turn to Galway West for starters and four areas readily stand out. The first is the headline proposal that Galway city and county councils be merged. While a proposal some years ago to remove city status from Kilkenny almost led to a cat-fight, Insider suspects that in the current economic climate, and with the desire among the public to cut the cost of politics and politicians, this may not excite much controversy. Nevertheless it will be a radical move.
The second area that will stun people relates to proposed alterations to Gaeltacht matters. The cutting of various grants and schemes will hurt, but this is something that people may be willing to accept in the circumstances - provided the Government is capable of bringing the people with them on the need for spending cuts to restore our economic fortunes.
What will alarm people in the Gaeltacht to a greater degree is the proposed transfer of powers from Údarás na Gaeltachta to centralised State agencies such as the IDA - already there are rumblings of the dangers of the Gaeltacht areas being forgotten about if this happens - and most spectacularly the proposed abolition of the Department of Rural, Gaeltacht and Community Affairs (more of that later ).
Finally the curbing of support to Coláistí Gaeilge and ‘na Mná Tí’; will strike many as particularly cruel. However it will be sobering as it will convey the image of the social side of life, normally taken for granted, that is now being curbed.
This ties nicely in with the third area that will stun, which is the proposed cuts to various arts and sporting schemes. This is an area of huge importance to Galway. While it is an easy target for cuts as it is not seen as impacting on sensitive areas such as health and education it will have the same sobering effect as the cuts to the Coláistí Gaeilge schemes.
Finally the proposal that small rural schools be merged will impact in Galway more than most. This is a topic that will generate much debate. Some will argue that it is a good idea for children to attend larger schools rather than one with one or two teachers in charge of children from junior infants to sixth class. Others will regard it as an attack on the character of rural parishes.
In Galway East the issue of the rural schools will also be important. So too will the proposed abolition of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs as its rural brief plays a large role in that constituency. Proposed cuts to farming schemes will also play a big role in discourse in Galway East as Brian Cowen discovered last week when he arrived to open the new stretch of motorway between Athlone and Ballinasloe.
One point worth making that is not always appreciated in urban areas is that rural affairs relates not just to farming. There are many PAYE workers in rural Ireland too and these people will have many of the same concerns as those in urban Ireland. Nevertheless there are some practicalities of rural living that many feel can only be addressed through a ministry (or part-ministry ) of its own.
How will all of this play politically? Fianna Fáil in Galway will certainly be nervous. The local Fine Gael TDs will probably remain coy about it if possible, but with the scale of the crisis Ireland faces all parties are likely to have to spell out where they stand on these matters in the coming months.
It is notable that Dep Michael Ring, that shrewd judge of rural Ireland, has already come out against the abolition of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs!
What is intriguing though is that Labour leader Eamonn Gilmore, the only party leader to explicitly address this issue, has spoken out in favour of the proposal.
Galway West is a key constituency for Labour. With Michael D Higgins possibly retiring at the next election the party would be keen not to alienate voters in Connemara and rural parts of the Oranmore ward, from where any new Labour candidate will need votes and transfers to ensure his/her election.
However a counter view here is that Dep Gilmore may well be able to make a convincing case to that sector of the electorate as to how these areas can be better served by other departments and branches of government and that they will reward him.
It is certainly accepted that there is much cynicism and scepticism in Gaeltacht and rural areas as regards how well served people are by the current structures in any case, and that efforts by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to portray themselves as defenders of this status quo may be greeted by similar cynicism and scepticism. It is certainly a fascinating feature to the whole debate as to how it will play out in Galway.
Finally of course it must be emphasised that there is no certainty which, if any, of the proposals will be implemented. This is an area of conjecture in itself nationally as well as locally!
Either way it promises to be an interesting period ahead in the west!
