There are three major Drivetime radio shows on between 4.30 and 7.00 pm each weekday. If you are interested in current affairs you probably listen to Mary Wilson on Radio 1 or Matt Cooper on Today FM. If however, like me, you are more interested in listening to two and a half hours of a Flann O’Brienesque one man show then you probably listen to The Right Hook on Newstalk.
Occasionally on the show George needs to give his long suffering vocal cords a rest and invites a contributor into the studio to take the reins for a few minutes whilst he regroups and readies his next monologue. Dr. Ciara Kelly has the honour on a Monday, Phillip Molloy on Wednesday and Manchan Magan on Tuesday.
This is the setting through which I have consumed most of my Manchan Magan related content over the past couple of years; his consistently excellent travel slot on The Right Hook. He’s also an avid peddler of the Irish language so he has fetched up on the odd programme on TG4 as well.
So quite naturally I took an interest when I came across him in a different setting via a piece he wrote in a Sunday newspaper a few weeks ago. The headline read “Can the Midlands become our Northern California?” Being a fan of Manchan, a fan of the midlands and a fan of northern (and indeed the remainder of) California the Sunday morning leftover pizza and coffee had never shaped up to be so good. And so I settled in and started to read.
“Longford -Westmeath can be to Dublin what Sonoma county is to San Francisco, an area exceptionally rich in resources and ripe for profitable, sustainable development, right beside a thriving metropolis of tech innovation and international commerce………Longford-Westmeath is ideally suited for this role, once it re-orientates itself towards innovation, sustainability and enlightened social services, just as Sonoma, Brandenburg and Vancouver Island have done. Five strands must be implemented simultaneously: 1) Locally owned renewable energy; 2)sustainable horticulture and artisan food; 3)adventure tourism that is heritage rich; 4)start up hubs for tech, arts and small enterprises; 5) a social care system that is enlightened, holistic and community led. “
According to Manchan the plan would be funded from a mix of public and private sources: investment funds such as Silicon Valley Bank have expressed commitment to funding long term sustainable projects here and EU Rural Development Funds and the EU’s Life Programme are currently well funded and are looking for qualifying projects.
International companies such as Apple are insisting on 100pc renewable energy. It can be provided and in the process start to generate some of the 100 000 jobs that the transition to renewables here has the potential to eventually create.
The farming strand involves making the midlands a centre of pioneering horticulture in the area of fruit and vegetables. “…we can gain world renown as a premium brand of organic frozen vegetables grown in the heart of Ireland –the Kerrygold of vegetables”.
Midlands tourism will capitalize on our woodland estates, wild waterways and mystic peatlands to “offer immersive out door activities with intelligent cultural insight and affordable boutique accommodation for discerning travelers”.
Combine all that with the creation of strategically located enterprise hubs and a system of social care which “must be pioneering, with new, enlightened forms of nature based holistic childcare, eldercare and mental care ….. a network of self sufficient community farms would have Men’s Sheds, maker labs and outdoor focused facilities for counseling and youth support. Engagement with nature would be at the heart of social, health and educational services”
For Longford- Westmeath read the midlands in general. Here is a visionary yet targeted, practical and realistic appraisal of what this much maligned part of the country can do, and can do quite easily; by just waking up to the endowments that already exist.
As Manchan rightly implies, it is not a matter of reinventing the wheel, everything we need is already here. The vision needed on an official level to adrenalise an initiative such as this will be slow to be realized but could eventually arrive.
No longer do we need be the annoying bit you have to go through on the way from one coast to the other. He has unveiled a simple but daring blueprint which can chart the future of the entire region. We just need someone to pick up the ball and run with it.
No better Manchan.
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