Development in Wicklow

Wicklow's development potential is recognised in the national development plan, with towns such as Arklow and Wicklow seen as regional 'growth centres' and local county demographic estimates showing double digit population growth in the decade ahead. Newtownmountkennedy is expected to quadruple in size and Mercury Holdings Ltd. Plans to bring 6000 jobs to Arklow. It's boom time in the Garden County.

However this is not good news for all residents of Wicklow. Many people who have grown up in county Wicklow can no longer afford to live there. Many parents are becoming aware that they are the last of their family to live in the area that they have been associated with for generations. In the competition for limited housing it is difficult if not impossible for a rural Wicklow person to compete against urban refugees on professional salaries. If you want to afford a house in Wicklow you have to go to there.

And there are other, less visible costs to the development boom. It is difficult to have the time or energy to participate in community life when you stagger in the door at 8:00pm after a two-hour commute. Person by person, month by month, energy that used to go into local clubs, parish activities and charity work goes instead into maintaining one's cool on the gridlocked roads or overcrowded trains. Newcomers to the area often maintain their social base in Dublin or elsewhere. Bit by bit community crumbles.

It is difficult to suggest what local politicians and community leaders can do in the face of this trend. The forces involved operate at a level far above county council meetings. In many ways even the government have their hands tied - or so it seems from their lack of action. Nevertheless it is important to be aware of what is happening. County leaders can at least articulate these issues. Growth is not always a good thing. 'Development' can be destructive. Not always, but often. To ignore these facts and adopt a 'growth and development at all costs' mentality has significant human and social costs.