Government finally finds the path to economic bliss

Clearly – after the guards and the teachers have been given their increased slice of the national cake – there won’t be anything like enough left to feed the rest of us.

Which probably explains the thinking behind a quietly-floated pilot project floated by the Government which reached its fruition last week.

At first glance, the Town and Village Renewal Scheme might seem like a sop to the little people down the sticks – but in truth it’s far more than that.

Ostensibly this was a small fund thrown at the Rural Alliance group in the current Dail to secure their support so that they’d prop up Enda Kenny after the people effectively rejected him.

It was announced as a scheme open to all to improve their local community and, even if – as Eamon Ó Cuiv pointed out – the divvy-up reduced this to little more than breadcrumbs, it was the thought that counted.

Then last week the Government announced the lucky winners of this lottery, including the eight Galway towns and villages to benefit.

In fairness, it must be said that couple of the projects approved for funding under the scheme are innovative and seem to fulfil the criteria you’d associate with something like this.

Tuam, for example, gets €85,000 for renovations to the town’s historic mill wheel; Portumna Forest Park gets €25,000 for upgrading of amenities; Oughterard gets €20,000 for the development of a walking and bike trail, and Loughrea will receive €25,000 to develop a report to guide plans for the future of the town.

But after that, it’s all footpaths – €70,000 for Athenry, €63,000 for Ballinasloe; €50,000 for Gort and €42,000 for Rosmuc…all for improvement and refurbishment of footpaths.

Having footpaths fixed and left in good walking order was, up to now, the sort of thing the Government organised for you as a quid pro quo for paying taxes.

Now, however, you have to make a strong case for central funding to fix your footpaths – and each year a select few will be able to walk a little easier while the rest will continue to work on avoiding the potholes.

How brilliant is that?

In one fell swoop, the Government not alone decided that fixing the footpaths was no longer its statutory responsibility but it made a virtue out of the few it deemed to patch up.

And now that the strategy has been successfully floated, isn’t it time to make this the central plank of its future economic policy.

Next year we can have a lottery to see who gets their bins collected.

The following year, eight villages in every county can have access to clean water from their kitchen tap.

The potential for this approach is unlimited.

You’ll have to make a case for continued illumination of your town after dark because we should no longer think of street lights as a right but as a luxury.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.