Aontú to hold public meeting as it seeks 'urgent' support for rural Ireland
The "urgent" need for the introduction of a support scheme to "regenerate rural Ireland" will be the focus of an upcoming public meeting in Co. Cork.
Aontú councillor Peter O'Donoghue, who is organising the meeting, said that the decline of rural Ireland is having a "detrimental effect on local populations and imaginative measures are needed to halt this".
The meeting is to take place at the Fairgrove Hotel in Mitchelstown on April 20, kicking off at 7:00p.m.
Isolation
O'Donoghue said it is "very sad to see local shops and business closing".
"Our rural pubs have long been places where people can gather in a warm convivial atmosphere," he said.
"At a time when technology means we are all connected, we have never been so disconnected, and this is taking a huge toll on people’s mental health.
"We know that Ireland has had the highest rate of loneliness in the EU with 20% of respondents to a [European Commission] Joint Research Centre survey, the first ever in the EU, saying they experience loneliness most or all the time, and this is very sad and concerning.
"We have an ageing population in Ireland and an increasing number of single people, and this can all feed into loneliness and isolation."
Support scheme
O'Donoghue said that rural businesses are "far more than just places of commerce".
He said they are the "social engine" of rural Ireland; and when the community loses its social hub, there is a "fracturing of that community".
"We are calling for a support scheme to be developed for these shops, pubs and businesses in rural Ireland to ensure that social hubs remain within these rural communities," the Cork county councillor explained.
"No rural community can be left without a social hub such as a pub or shop because when that happens that community is never the same again."
Planning policy
At the meeting, planning policy will also be discussed.
"We believe that if rural Ireland has any chance of surviving and thriving, then people who were born in rural Ireland need to be able to live in rural Ireland," O'Donoghue said.
"We will have speakers from the vintners sector, planning sector, the owner of a local rural café currently in development, and Aontú party leader Peadar Tóibín and my colleague Mona Stromsoe will also be in attendance."
O'Donoghue said that "most importantly on the night, we want to hear from the people of the area".
"The people who are seeing and living through their communities decline and get their views, opinions and suggestions on what must be done to urgently regenerate their community and all rural communities in Ireland," he concluded.
