The Lights That Will Never Go Out

By Gerard McDonagh

One night recently, I decided to take a walk. It was a dry, calm night, a welcome respite from the endless rain. Above me the stars were twinkling in their own galaxies, whilst all along the road, the windows of the new houses were lit up. Then I got a sudden urge. Something I had not done for over twenty years. I decided that I would climb to the top of Knockdoe Hill.

This low hill was the scene of a now forgotten battle in 1504 which some historians like Gerald Hayes McCoy say was the death of Gaelic Ireland. A savage battle in which thousands were slain by the axe of the gallowglass among others, it now lies silent, overlooking the stonewalled countryside.

With only the moon and stars to light me, I set off. The years had not diminished my ability to step and hop over the limestone rocks that lined the route as I had traversed them so often in my younger days. Instinctively, I kept going until I reached the top and stood on the ruins of Teach Mor, a legacy to a man's folly in 1850 who decided to build a house in such a windswept spot.

I looked 10 miles westward to the illuminated City of Galway and its suburbs and turned a full circle clockwise. I saw the bright orange lights of Moycullen, Claregalway, Annaghdown, Corofin, Tuam, Abbeyknockmoy, Athenry, Oranmore and finally Galway once again Linking those towns and villages were the many lights made up of the countryside's "one-off" homes. It looked like a golden ring, the towns and villages being its encrusted diamonds, priceless, irreplaceable. A countryside alive and vibrant, its lights being a symbol of our prosperity. Every parish, village and byroad breathing again where once its life had all but expired.

Yet, such a wondrous scene does not please a certain sector of the very people who claim to have the best interests of the environment at heart. If they had their way, one would only see the diamonds but not the ring that holds them together. For "one-off" rural housing is a blight on the landscape according to esteemed bodies like An Taisce.

The government defines the National Spatial Strategy as "a twenty year planning framework designed to achieve a better balance of social, economic, physical development and population growth between regions." It claims that "its focus is on people, on places and on building communities." This strategy is being loosely adopted by our County Councils who use such terms in the NSS like sustainable development being "minimising the consumption of non-renewable resources like soils, groundwater and agricultural land." What they really mean is that there should not be any private "one-off" houses in the countryside! Even the opposition parties like Labour are in agreement. Their document, "Visions of Ireland", is very much in line with this new thinking on the clustering of towns and villages.

There is nothing wrong with the clustering of towns and villages. But when this occurs at the expense of populating the general countryside, then the balance is distorted. Michael D. Higgins of that same Labour Party said recently, "Last year, one farmer in seven sold a site". That statistic is an excuse for this new policy. Yet the reality is that somebody will come in to that area, build a house, send their children to the local school, shop in the local supermarket and contribute to the economic and social development of that area.

The hinterland around Knockdoe Hill is a prime example of this. For the last 25 years, farmers have helped supplement declining incomes, by selling half-acre sites. This has had a number of knock on effects.

For instance, it has given financial freedom to some farmers, away from the clutches of banks and financial institutions. To others, it has given them an opportunity to reinvest that money back into building another house on their land, alleviating the onus on the government (that seeks to stop this type of development,) on having to provide housing.

This influx of people has meant that the elderly no longer feel isolated and afraid of a night-time attacker. The end of "no other house for miles around roads" mean that they feel secure in the knowledge that help is never far away.

The infusion of new ideas, customs and initiative allows traditional dwellers look outside their own sometimes narrow world and embrace these for the betterment of all. One has only to drive by and see beautifully kept farmhouses and gardens which traditionally might not have been so well kept. People learn from each other. Over time, a blend of indigenous and imported ideas is achieved, which maximises the good and consigns the bad to history.

This "mixing" of customs can be found in the "Stations", around Knockdoe. An old Parish custom, whereby a mass is said in a different persons house once a year in each area of the parish. In our area, as a boy, there were but seven houses and thus we had the stations once every seven years. Today, over 30 years on, there are now 24 houses in our area, with two different station masses each year. This allows us to meet our neighbours who hail from places as far away as England and the U.S. to people from Dublin, Mayo, Kildare, Cork and other counties. It creates a community, which is the basis of all habitation. Isolation is banished. Interaction flourishes.

This mixing is also good for those "outsiders" who choose to settle in the country. It lets them see at first hand the way the countryside pulses. The farmers who make their living on the land are existing side-by-side with birdlife and wildlife. The changing seasons painting their colours on the fields. It allows them to see that the so-called urban-rural divide is only there because of ignorance and lack of understanding.

In fact, the usual problems faced by farmers are very much like their own, be it money, health or whatever. Only the format is different.

The ancient Irish dispersed village which survived hundreds of years of wars, occupation and famine is now facing the greatest threat from the most unlikely of sources-the government of this country!

The NSS, in jargon that only scholars could understand, says that it has its best interests at heart. Yet, already Galway County Council has put its own interpretation on it and decided to grant planning permission for "one off" rural housing only in exceptional circumstances within a 15km radius of Galway City.

As I stood on the summit of Knockdoe Hill in the light of the moon, with the graves of the slaughtered all around, a thought suddenly occurred to me. What if all the planners, so called environmentalists and all those opposed to "one-off " rural housing were to be brought to the top of the hill at night. At a prearranged time, all the lights would be switched off in those same country houses. Perhaps then, they might see how those diamonds are devalued without the ring upon which they are set.
 
 

Gerard McDonagh, a Galway-based freelance journalist, is a regular contributor to The Irish Farmer's Journal. He also writes a monthly article on parenting for Reality magazine and has contributed recent articles to The Word, Today's Parent, Ireland's Eye and The Western People. He can be reached at johnmcdonagh@iolfree.ie