"THE village of Dunmore (in Co Galway) has nothing about it which can especially recommend it to the reader it has none of those beauties of nature which have taught Irishmen to consider their country as the first flower of the earth and the first gem of the sea.
"It is a dirty, ragged little town, standing in a very poor part of the country with nothing about it to induce the traveller to go out of his beaten track. It is on no high road, and is blessed with no adventitious circumstances to add to its prosperity."
The words are those of Anthony Trollope, at his acerbic best in his novel The Kellys and the O'Kellys, published in 1848. The description still causes blood to boil among many natives indignant at verbal assassination of their place but, ironically, the description could equally have been applied to many West of Ireland towns, which have changed little in the loo years since and more.
A Bleak Place
Kiltimagh in East Co Mayo would have perfectly fitted the description a bleak place with a population of about 1,000, noted for the perennial loss of its people through emigration and also for the odd mention in history over the 19th century land wars.
The description could have applied right up to a few years ago, but would not apply now in either Dunmore or Kiltimagh. Against a background of acceptance of decline, the two small towns have become symbols of regeneration. The latter, in particular, has embraced the move to rural development with a vision which it seems, still has to be fully appreciated or understood by state authorities.
Kiltimagh's divesting of its grim past and inevitable social decay is being catalysed by the local Integrated Resource Development company (IRD), which over the past six years has prompted the economic indicators suddenly to turn tipward over 200 jobs created with its help population decline arrested, a future programmed for action rather than let drift in the hands of others. Allied to that is new identity, manifest in the town's new sculpture park.
The plan has many proposals, including what some might regard as unusual. One such proposal is to locate a school of music in the town, to rectify a major deficiency in the West of Ireland's educational facilities. Hundreds of students throughout the region travel east to Dublin and south to Cork and other centres, to learn music, both classical and traditional.
Flagship Project
Kiltimagh set about forging links with the Ulster School of Music in Belfast and Maoin Cheoil an Chlair, a successful school of traditional and classical music in Ennis, run by Dr Andrew Robinson, with a view to establishing a western conservatory, and planning to extend contact once it was open by sharing staff and facilities. "This is one of our flagship projects," Kiltimagh IRD manager Joe Kelly explains "it will be a school of excellence and cater for 300 students."
The cost of the project, which would bring with it a huge local spend" and fulfil the vital requirement of bringing people to the town, is estimated at £600,000. The IRD applied last year to the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht seeking a total of £450,000 in European Regional Development Funds and state support, while it undertook to provide the remainder in what's called matching finance.
Everything was falling into place perfectly last month, when one of the wealthiest Irishmen in the US property developer Tom Flatley, promised £100,000 to a project planned for what was once his native town. Flatley, who has backed the IRD in the past, was in town to bring the good news.
He has a particular interest in education being a patron of Boston College and is based in the appropriately named Braintree, just outside Boston.
"He is very excited about this," Joe adds."With his sup port, the school of music is now more tangible. Other groups have good projects but cannot find matching funds."
The Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht this week said there was not enough ERDF monies available to support the Kiltimagh school of music. Applicants for this round of funding sought £86 million support from that source, but there was just £19 million available.
Joe Kelly barely flinches when I confirm the bad news. Despondent? "Absolutely not!" comes the reply. He knows that Kiltimagh is in the pot for the next round of allocations later this year. Radical ideas take time to sink in.
Innovation and Ideas
He is motivated by the belief that "the future of rural Ireland lies in communities leading their own development". Kiltimagh is fulfilling that brief with innovation and new thinking, which he believes makes it, and similar places, entitled to positive discrimination and even Temple Bar type tax designation.
Joe Kelly and IRD Kiltimagh, funded by the £2 a week contribution from local wage earners and others, dared to question the correctness of inevitably locating such cultural projects in large urban centres such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. Audacious concepts still can take a while before getting the backing of official matching funds, which unfortunately does not equate with matching vision.
The IRD has had similar setbacks, but Kiltimagh style regeneration does not have gloomy acceptance of the status quo in its parlance. The site for the western conservatory of music is earmarked with construction ready to start once sufficient funds are secured. The odds on it materialising may seem a little longer now but I'm prepared to wager a pink, Daniel O'Connell covered hill that it will materialise.