Tag Archives: rural decline

REDUCED Garda presence. The demise of local businesses. The removal of GP services. All are familiar complaints in rural Clare. And these three complaints will top the agenda at a public meeting in Newmarket-on-Fergus next Monday night when locals give vent to their concerns for the future of the village. Eimear Murphy of Obair Newmarket-on-Fergus said, “We’re here in the centre of the village and over the last six or seven months we have had people coming into us a little bit concerned. “We’ve lost our GP, we’ve lost our local shop, our main street is very, very quiet. A lot of businesses have closed for different reasons, whether they’ve retired or just closed up. They would have concerns around where we’re going from here.” Earlier this year Dr Colm Hackett retired after serving the village for 42 years, with no replacement to date. The issue was raised in the Dáil this week by Dr Michael Harty and it has …

THE introduction of large foreign multinational retail outlets has resulted in the demise of rural Ireland, according to a retired businessman. Michael Moloney, (72), who ran the Dalcassian Bar in Ruan, has outlined how he built a “business empire” in the small village, which attracted hundreds of shoppers from surrounding towns and villages for years. In 1968, Mr Moloney re-opened McGann’s pub in Ruan, which had closed due to a bereavement. He had learned the trade from managing a licensed premises in Galway City for more than two years and working five and a half years in the Diamond Bar in Ennis. At the time the Diamond Bar had a great grocery and retail business, which proved to be a great learning ground for him. Fr Carmody called into the pub he was working in Galway City and told him he should buy a property in Ruan. With the help of a loan from AIB in Galway, he purchased the …