Days of the 'béal bocht' are over in the West

Over the last few months, I have been writing a series of articles on what we can learn from leaders in different sectors about how to build a better West of Ireland.

I interviewed Pat O’Donnell about multinational companies; Enda Kenny about politics; Georgia MacMillan about big transformative ideas; Monica Morley about the future for the Catholic Church; Lorraine Burnell about leading a successful SME, and Lisa Hallinan about running a highly successful and community focused commemoration festival.

What common themes emerged from all those different experiences and focuses? What really matters for the future of the West?

The starting point was always people, people, people: whether working in or leading multinational businesses, or delivering for customers in SMEs, or in making the case for the West in submissions or proposals, or in delivering the highest quality artistic and cultural events, or changing the way the Catholic Church operates, the quality of people and the work they do is vital. What we do has to be professional and as good as is to be found anywhere. Old methods and old ways that don’t serve us must be left behind.

The quality of life we offer remains a big draw. That involves an easy commute and an attractive standard of living, of course, but increasingly central is the kind of social and cultural infrastructure where Georgia MacMillan, Lisa Hallinan and Monica Morley have been showing leadership. The business leaders I interviewed for this series confirmed that. If we don’t continue to create a region which is socially and culturally vibrant, as well as environmentally aware and sustainable, we will not only be diminishing that quality of life, but damaging our ability to earn our way in the real world. For all those working on developing community, artistic and sporting facilities, the lesson is clear: as well as all the other benefits, the economic case for these is clear, tangible and growing.

High standards are key to everything. As Pat O’Donnell explained, multinationals in the West brought high standards in production, which then had to be met – and were met – by local supplier firms. Industry standards in the SME sector, as Lorraine Burnell explained, are vital to business success in the West of Ireland, requiring business leaders to be self-reflective all the time and to be prepared to change, to do things differently, and to do them better.

And Lisa Hallinan confirmed that professional standards in delivering on a community-inspired programme of events are at the heart of cultural practice too. In the world of politics, Enda Kenny explained that the very highest standards must be met when making submissions for infrastructural, economic or social funding, and that it is hard for any politician to influence effectively without that high level of professionalism from people on the ground, in our communities. A key point about these high standards is that they spread into other areas – as people then put their energies into social and community life, or into founding new enterprises.

Networking matters a lot. Lorraine Burnell and Pat O’Donnell both described how important networking is to stay ahead in business and know what is coming down the track, and how that’s especially important when you are in business in the West, far from the metropolitan centres. As Lisa Hallinan demonstrated in Ballina 2023, well-networked people can deliver much for projects here. While Monica Morley might not have used the term ‘networking’, the synodal process she described in the life of that church will rely on well-connected people operating across traditional parish and diocesan lines, delivering pastoral and liturgical services to where they are needed.

In terms of infrastructural investment, it is clear we need to be very strategic in what we look for. Our level of connectivity – whether on the internet or road and rail – is crucial. That is for business reasons, but also so that we are connected to the latest trends in culture, art, and science. That to me was the big learning from the interview with Georgia MacMillan about the Dark Skies project, which is positioning Mayo as a place where the cutting edge is being discussed, a place that is central to major ideas, not disconnected from them. We need more of those big ideas – keep looking up at the stars everyone!

In making the case for further investment or to advance new initiatives or ideas, the argument must be about potential and not grievance. It is in this language – not of the poor mouth but of potential based on track record – that we should root our advocacy for greater investment in our region. And to do that best, as Enda Kenny explained, we need leaders of all kinds who can make that argument effectively in the context of national policies. This form of leadership and advocacy is much more important than any notion we might have of the traditional Chieftain returning from Dublin with their spoils.

Finding ways to support such leaders, especially when they come from the social, voluntary or community sectors, either through administrative funding or through leadership and development training would be a great investment. We need to support and encourage the people who are leading such efforts in whatever way we can and perhaps employ a method that private enterprises use, of finding early-stage good ideas and then backing them through various forms of investment.

An example of this is how Ballina will see the benefits from Ballina 2023 for years to come, as those involved go on to do further great things in all sorts of areas. The Catholic Church needs such investment in potential leaders, but as Monica Morley points out, if you create the right conditions for people to contribute, they will step up and do it, regardless of what role outdated social norms had previously suggested they play. Creating an inclusive society in every way is crucial to that. Four of the six interviewed for this series were women, a reflection on the changing dynamic of leadership – that old way of doing things is over and every organisation should embrace this wave of change by getting a surfboard and jumping on it.

We also need to be clear-eyed. People won’t ‘shop local’ simply because they are local - those days are over. What keeps money being spent locally, is the same as what allows us to compete globally – and based around the principle that Lorraine Burnell outlined, that “we have to be as good and better as anywhere else”.   We also need to do what Ballina 2023 was designed to do: increase civic pride about who we are and where we’re from. That has to be built from the ground up, as was done in Ballina 2023, as is being done in the synodal process in the Catholic Church and is evident in the way Georgia MacMillan and the Dark Skies team are creating support for their big idea.

All those things together create for me the strongest theme emerging from the interviews: all the great things that are placing Mayo at the centre and not at the periphery of events, ideas, and practices. Finally, what is clear from this series is that we need leaders who can advocate, lead and inspire. I am very grateful to the six who gave their time to me to give that example.