This article was first published on October 7^th, 2008.

Conference on Rural Isolation draws a large crowd to the new GAA Centre in Ballybay

The conference, held in the Pearse Brothers GAA Centre in Ballybay on Thursday 18th September and titled “Rural Isolation in County Monaghan – Problems and Solutions”, can be viewed as a significant contribution to helping achieve progression on a subject which has been of concern to many for quite some time. The event which attracted an attendance of over 120 people generated much discussion and gave rise to many excellent suggestions to address some of the issues raised.

Keynote speaker on the day was Seamus Boland, CEO of Irish Rural Link who warned that the proposed introduction of a carbon tax “will seriously hurt rural commuters” given the inadequate level of public transport available. This view has been put forward by the ESRI and Seamus Boland called for a comprehensive study to determine alternative transport provision in such a scenario.

Gerard Callan, Community Outreach Worker & Laura Caslin, Research & Evaluation Officer presented the key findings of a research survey conducted in several parts of the county over the Summer months. This piece of work was carried out with the help of a number of local community activists and the cooperation of a random sample of 100 people living alone. The issues which impacted most were categorized in three groupings – & Feeling Down, Fear & Safety and Services.

Loneliness: More than two out of five people surveyed feel lonely or down, often due to bereavement, living circumstances, personal health, lack of friends or visitors, fear of loss of independence.

Fear & Safety: 17% often feel afraid in their own home; 21% do not have a smoke alarm and 19% indicated that they did not have door locks.

Services: 70% of people identified themselves as not having access to public transport, 59% depend on others for transport & 57% would use a rural bus service if one was available in their area. Over 10% of those surveyed over 65 do not avail of the free travel pass, free electricity, television licence or telephone rental.

Representatives of three key service providers – Department of Social & Family Affairs, Garda Siochana & the HSE in response to the survey findings briefly outlined current services & supports available from their respective organizations and advised that contact be made by those with a relevant service need.

The workshop sessions provided opportunity for participants to put forward suggestions for addressing many of the issues raised in the research survey under the three categories. These suggestions together with all the presentations on the day, are being compiled into a comprehensive report. When complete it will be available to all stakeholders and interested parties; and will hopefully be a catalyst for future actions on a number of fronts.