I live about a mile from Leitrim Village and about 3 miles from Cootehall, 2 villages in the Upper Shannon Basin that know all about the effects of the Section 23 Rural Renewal Scheme.

Leitrim Village has quadrupled in size in the last 5 years, and there are now more holiday homes and apartments in the village than houses where people actually live. The centre of the village was also dug up to build an hotel, which was haled at the time as an economic miracle. The hotel, which still isn’t finished, is now up for sale.

Cootehall is another village on the Shannon, but is in Roscommon rather than Leitrim. Its famous for a couple of reasons. Firstly, its the home place of recently deceased and former FF Minister Sean “Doc” Doherty. Secondly, its where John McGahern grew up, which he describes in his book, “Memoir”.

When I first came to this area, I thought Cootehall was a perfect village. It was built around 3 sides of triangular green, unlike so many other villages that are built along the sides of national and regional roads. Every house on the green faced every other house on the green, which I though created a real sense of place and community.

This didn’t sit too well with Roscommon County Council, however, so they decided to granted planning permission for 40 holiday homes and helicopter pad on the green. Cootehall now looks like this:

Apparently, tearing the heart out of villages like this promotes economic development. I just wish someone would explain how.