Saving our villages must be prioritised

The key role that smaller towns and villages play in the life of County Cavan cannot be over stated. While being historically viewed as a rural county of substantial dimensions it is also a fact that Cavan is unique by virtue of the large number of urban and village settlements that it has within its boundaries. It is reckoned that Cavan has at least twice the number of smaller towns than its neighbouring counties. Certainly one would need to go to Cork, Mayor or Galway to see a similar situation. The geographical layout of the county stretching from the Shannon to the Dublin commuter belt may explain this; the county had a population of 250,000 just before the Famine and the existence of such a large population may have been attributable to the support structure in place by virtue of the goods and services provided in its myriad of towns and villages. Since the Famine each of these smaller towns and villages have continued to be the focus of life for their respective catchment areas. This was particularly true in relation to the Fair Day which provided a definite heartbeat in smaller centres such as Swanlinbar, Blacklion, Kilnaleck etc. The advent of the cattle mart concentrated in larger centres was a definite blow to the business life of those smaller towns and villages and while they have valiantly striven to compete with the rapidly expanding county town and other large urban centres they have failed to retain their importance as local market towns. This is a great pity and the recent debate at Cavan County Council about derelict sites has special significance in smaller towns and villages where several former business premises have fallen into dereliction. The council intimated that they are to take a tough line in relation to derelict sites with a register currently being finalised and penalties to be imposed for people who do not carry out works that the council deem necessary. It is true that a strong position should be adopted with regard to dereliction - as well as being ugly and detrimental to the work of local Tidy Towns committees such unused, abandoned properties can be places of unacceptable activity such as locations for drink and drug parties. However, a further roll out of the urban and village renewal schemes would also be very timely. It would do much to regenerate those villages which have so far not benefited from the renewal scheme. In an age when economic forces dictate that big retail multiples gain an ever bigger share of the market there is only a limit to what can be done to save traditional shops. Nevertheless everything that can be done should be done and in fairness the Local Authority in this county has always been fully focused on doing all it can to support smaller towns and villages. A further new programme concentrating on support for small town businesses would be most beneficial for a county like Cavan and perhaps this could be achieved within a framework involving the EU, Central Government and Local Government. If knowledge can be gained from examining other societies in Europe then this should be done. The securing of the future of our smaller towns and villages is a prize well worth fighting for.