COMMENT: Five years is a very long time in politics

WITH the election campaign now well underway, I have been sorely disappointed by the lack of canvassers calling to my home. I was looking forward to engaging with them on the pressing local issues affecting my community and wanted to hear their views on how they would right all the various wrongs if elected.

Since 2011, there have been some significant developments in my village, a once traditional semi-rural coastal community that has seen major population growth over the past few decades. We’ve moved with the times and are now card-carrying members of the commuter belt – even if the bus journey into the city can take over an hour and the train service is not as frequent as we’d like. 

On the flipside, we’ve two beautiful beaches and the pace of life is a little less frantic than more suburban parts of Dublin.

If you had a time machine and were transported back five years to when the current Government took office, you’d notice a few changes. 

Back then we had a little Garda station. Granted, it was only open part-time but it was a permanent police presence in the town nonetheless. 

Since its closure, the area has been plagued by burglaries. We’ve all signed up to a text alert scheme to fill some of the void but it’s a poor substitute for actual gardaí on the beat or the comforting sight of patrol cars. 

We’ve also lost our bank, adding to the growing number of closed businesses on our main street, where ugly, derelict buildings dominate the focal point of the village. There has been welcome talk of a major rejuvenation project for this area but so far it has failed to materialise.

Our Xtra-vision store closed long before the most recent crisis in the DVD rental sector killed the business for good. We can’t blame the Government for that one.

But there are positives, too. We’ve gained a Tesco store, which is handy for doing the weekly shop, but perhaps a less welcome addition to the commercial landscape for existing local businesses who find it difficult to compete with such a retail behemoth.

Our old church has been converted into a state-of-the-art library which ranks as one of the finest in the country. There are plans for a new secondary school building and local sports organisations are buzzing with activity.

Irish Water recently announced a multi-million investment to end the discharge of raw sewage into the sea, a practice that has seen our above mentioned local beaches closed to swimming.

So in a way, our town is like a microcosm of Ireland: there are sure signs of economic recovery but not everybody feels it. Will a change of Government or a continuation of the current one make much difference to our daily lives? It’s hard to know.

But I’m interested to see what the next five years will bring.