Pandemic could 'reinvigorate' rural Ireland

(Above) Villages such as Ballinahown could be reinvigorated in the coming years.

The move to remote working during the pandemic has the potential to “reinvigorate rural Ireland”, local councillors believe.

Speaking at the recent online meeting of Westmeath County Council's Economic Strategic Policy Committee, Cllr John Dolan said one of the few positives to come from the pandemic is that it has shown that “remote working can work” in rural Ireland.

The Fine Gael said that move to remote working brought about by the pandemic and the rollout of the National Broadband Plan could have a positive impact on the future viability of many rural communities in Westemeath and the rest of the country.

“There is no need to live in Dublin now. You can live in my village in Ballinahown and have a job in Dublin, maybe commute two days a week on the train. It has opened up new possibilities and I see this as a great opportunity to reinvigorate rural Ireland.

People are often quick to say that rural Ireland has been forgotten but when you see all of the money that has been pumped into different schemes, we have a local hall and we are going to have two working spaces in a hub. They will be able to work and live in our local village.

“The sooner broadband is rolled in rural Ireland the better because I think it will be most important in the future.”

The chair of the SPC, Cllr John Shaw of Fianna Fail, is an estate agent. He agreed with Cllr Dolan that “there are great opportunities that have arisen through Covid”.

“I have found over the last six or eight months the amount of people who maybe have roots in Westmeath and are moving back, perhaps have sold their property in Dublin and now moving back or were renting and now moving back. They are working at home two or three times a week and can see the benefits of it.”