While Ireland’s rural areas have suffered disproportionately from the current recession, rural assets and people hold many of the keys to Ireland’s economic recovery and future resilience. This was one of the messages emerging from the Ceiliúradh conference held at Tipperary Institute, Thurles at the end of October. Marian Harkin MEP spoke about the possibilities offered by the Green Economy not just for rural dwellers but for the Country as a whole.

Current economic policies, our wasteful use of fossil fuels and our dependence on external markets has left the Irish economy one of the most vulnerable in the World. Peter Ward of Country Choice in Nenagh and a member of An Bord Bia described how, along with other developed Countries, our food policies have encouraged farmers to cater only for the export market.

This has left us extremely vulnerable as a nation. We are feeding ourselves on foreign imports from foreign-owned supermarkets.  Money flows out of the Country; small rural businesses close and our agricultural system is built on subsidies rather than on food production. According to the economist Chris Pienaar of the New Economics Foundation, London

“the solutions require us to see with new eyes – Ireland will not ‘bounce back’ to what was there before, but rather will invent a way towards a rural revival that puts centre stage rural peoples’ stewardship of Ireland’s greatest assets in a new era of climate change and global resource depletion – her land, seas and renewable energy.”

Ireland has one of the best food producing climates in the world. We have skilled growers and food producers, yet they cannot access the consumer in many cases. But solutions exist. Mike Small of the ‘Fife Diet’ in Scotland, Europe’s largest local eating experiment, told the conference that he has recruited 800 people over the past 3 years to eat only food grown in the Fife area. This has resulted in a re-connection between consumers and growers, and a strengthening of the local economy and local businesses, allowing money to remain in the locality, giving people access to good quality, reasonably priced local food.

“There is no reason to believe that such local eating experiments cannot happen all over Ireland:  Irish producers once again gearing up to feed the Irish population and contributing to a vibrant local economy.” said Small

One of the reasons that Irish companies are going out of business now is that they cannot get access to credit from the Banks. And Ireland’s dependence on foreign direct investment flows has left small businesses floundering. A solution to this, already adopted in the UK (and part of Ireland’s forgotten financial inheritance) and advocated by economist Richard Douthwaite at the Conference, are local currencies that facilitate people to do more of their transactions locally. We have learned from the credit crunch that our over-reliance on one currency leaves us vulnerable – especially those who live outside the metropolis. Delegates heard practical examples of new financial instruments and regional currencies which will build resilience into the heart of our economy in the future. And again, rural innovators are leading the way.

Clifford Guest of Tipperary Institute presented data from around the world, most notably from the Oil industry itself, that demonstrates how we have already reached the point where fossil fuel usage is detrimental both to the health of the planet and to the economy. This oil fixation will end – even the global energy industry boss now agrees that ‘peak oil’ may arrive in 2020. Delegates  heard convincing evidence that connected the cheap energy boom with exponential population growth, global warning and ultimately to fuelling the economic bubble and crash we are now suffering. While a bleak scenario of runaway global catastrophe awaits if we do nothing, hope is on the horizon if we make the right choices. Ireland, along with very few other Countries such as the Scandanavian nations and New Zealand has the climate, skills and assets to resist future shocks if the correct choices are made.

In summing up, David Meredith, Teagasc noted that that rural Ireland , rather than being an economic backwater, can lead the way into national resilience. Rural stewardship and targeted investment in energy, water, human and land resources will ensure that Ireland’s population is fed, warm and able to withstand climate shocks. In todays’ turbulent economic climate, having the foresight to invest in pioneering rural enterprise offers great hope.