Achill may be on the cusp of a bright new era

There are many upsides to living on Achill Island. But challenges too. Like so many things in life, there’s a trade-off.

It is an utterly beautiful place, a lovely place to raise a young family. You will never tire of things to do in the great outdoors here. Blue Flag beaches by the handful, enough gorgeous hikes and vistas therein to keep the most adventurous busy, greenways, sea safaris and ferries. Loads of fine food and drink establishments. I still don’t think enough people across the country realise what a gem Achill is.

Challenges? Well, it is relatively remote, an hour from Castlebar and all of its services. It might be less than an hour if you’re rushing to the hospital (guilty as charged) but it is still longer than you’d like. Without any big employers on the island, Achill struggles to hold onto enough of its brightest and best.

The grá for the place means commutes five days a week to Castlebar or Westport are commonplace. There are plenty who work away all week in Dublin or even in the United Kingdom, returning home to their families at the weekend rather than have their kids grow up elsewhere.

Some choose to leave, but most have little say in the matter. The work at home just isn’t there. I’ve never seen anywhere like Achill with the grá for home in its people. No matter where most of its diaspora find themselves, returning home on a regular basis is a given.

Our spatial strategy over the years (or lack thereof, I would argue) has seen a huge concentration of work on the east coast at the expense of large tracts of the rest of the country. Castlebar is poorer off than the east coast in terms of opportunities but, relatively speaking, is well ahead of places like Achill.

The ‘Ireland is full’ argument around immigration is an emotive one. Achill isn’t full, nor are many places like it, but whether it can grow and become a viable place for more people is the issue.

Greater employment prospects are key. So is infrastructure and housing. The road to Achill has gradually improved over the years and ongoing work on the Newport to Derrada N59 is welcome.

I think the fundamental question from a government perspective about places like Achill and rural Ireland as a whole is what is its vision for them? There have been enough plans written over the years but it fundamentally comes down to this – is rural Ireland merely a place where government sees its obligation to service the needs of its existing population or does it see the potential for transformative growth?

Because all too often it has been the former, and there is a justifiable sense that these regions have merely received crumbs from the table. Economically, compared to the rest of Ireland, the western and northern region is far behind. European Union data has confirmed this and we are the only region in Ireland termed ‘a lagging region’. We rank 218th out of 234 European regions for transport infrastructure development.

One of the exceptions to this has been the National Broadband Plan, which has been rolled out equally nationwide. It may not be cost effective if you take a Colm McCarthy-type economic view of it, but it provides equality of opportunity, which is what these areas want and need.

Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, was in Keel on Achill Island earlier this month to mark the launch of the fibre broadband on the island.

“The National Broadband Plan is one of the largest State infrastructure projects since rural electrification, and ensures that no community, home or business is left behind from a connectivity point of view. This means that delivering broadband infrastructure to the residents of Achill Island is a natural extension of this mandate,” said the Minister.

Maybe I’m being precious but it sounds as if the Government is saying ‘we’re being so nice here that we’re even bringing the NBP to Achill. Aren’t ye lucky?’ One day after the launch we had the fibre installed in our home.

It has made a big difference. A week before the fibre arrived, my internet was down and I was due on a video call. So I did what I always do in these far from infrequent situations. I got in the car, drove to high ground where I had an unimpeded view of the masts atop Minaun and logged on, hoping the mobile signal would remain strong enough for the duration of the call.

For people looking to work from home in Achill, trying to convince their employers it is a good idea with unreliable broadband is not an easy sell. Fibre will change the game in that regard. It’s not just the massive increase in speed, it is the reliability of the signal, not at the mercy of high winds and rain.

It is amazing technology and shows how far we’ve come. I recall the first time we had internet in Breaffy in the mid-1990s and having to plug out the landline telephone to set-up the dial-in internet via Telecom Éireann. The familiar connection dial sound and the incredibly slow loading time for any website that dared use pictures.

Now everything is almost instantaneous. I no longer have to second guess myself when asked to hop onto a video call.

Since Covid, plenty of people have returned to Achill and work from home either all of the time or go to their offices once or twice a month, either elsewhere in Mayo or perhaps Galway, Dublin or Limerick. There are lots of young families in this cohort because they feel, like we do, that Achill is a great place to raise a family. More people might be tempted to do likewise with the advent of broadband.

It is a very positive development. If such rhetoric can be applied across the board from government for places like Achill – equality of opportunity – to rebalance our badly skewed spatial strategy, maybe all of us young parents might be fortunate enough to see meaningful opportunities for our children locally. And, for once, emigration will be more of a choice and less of an imposition.