The decision by Teagasc to close its Crossmolina office has been described by Mayo Fine Gael TD John O'Mahony as another blow for rural communities in Mayo.
“It makes you wonder where the future is for rural Ireland. It's never ending with small primary schools closing and merging with bigger urban schools; the post offices are closing; banks are pulling out of small towns and now here in Crossmolina we have the main advisory agency for the local farming community shutting its doors.”
Farmers from Crossmolina will now have to travel to Belmullet or Ballina which according to Dep O’Mahony brings with it “a whole raft of other issues such as more traffic on the roads and extra time being spent away from the farm”.
The Fine Gael Dep concluded by saying “we're constantly being told of the importance of decentralisation but of late all we hear of is centralisation with services being taken away from the rural areas and transferred to the bigger urban centres. It's a huge issue in rural Ireland and one that deserves an awful lot more debate than it receives.”
