Ireland’s first conference on community shops (By Allen Meagher)

- Calls for An Post to relax rules

Ireland’s first national conference on community shops took place yesterday in Horse and Jockey, Co. , amidst calls for changes in Government policy towards rural areas.

With speakers including villagers who set up co-operatives to run shops in areas devoid of services, there was recognition that communities must come up with their own solutions in the absence of changes to planning laws.

With up to 13 retail units a week closing down nationwide, small villages have been “vacuumed” clean of services, according to NUI Galway academic Richard Silke.

The ‘Rural Community Retail Conference’ also heard calls from national and international contributors for An Post to relax rules over who can provide post office services.

Declan Rice, CEO of Kilkenny Leader Partnership, predicted that, “Community shops are going to become huge over the next few years.”

Rising transport costs and “the closure of more and more commercial services in rural areas is increasing pressure on communities to provide their own solutions.”

“However, State organisations such as An Post need to be much more accommodating to community shops,” he said.

Peter Couchman, CEO of the Plunkett Foundation which supported the establishment of over 300 shops in England, said, “Two-thirds of our community shops are running post offices as well.”

The conference also heard from Mary Fogarty from , Co. Tipperary, who helped set up a co- operative-run, community shop and tearooms.

“You couldn’t buy a pint of milk in Loughmore,” said Mary. When struck down by cancer, she no longer had the energy to travel the six miles to for basic necessities and vowed to do something if she survived her illness.

With support from Leader Partnership and the Plunkett Foundation, Loughmore Co- operative Shop & Tearooms opened in 2012, now employs three people, while most people in the village have become shareholders.

Mary encouraged delegates keen to open a community shop to link in with their local development company and to make contact with the Plunkett Foundation.

Arguing that community-run shops are “vital”, Kevin Leydon, Professor of Political Science, NUIG, said, “You can buy two eggs in a community shop, or six grapes, and unlike large supermarkets, community shops create an emotional connection in a community.”

He called on rural activists to employ a new language in talking to planners about society’s needs, stressing community values over developer priorities.

W: ruralcommunityretail.com