Local History with Monica McGill: Local economy depends on promoting tourism in village
The start of our one-way traffic system in Clondalkin village

Local History with Monica McGill: Local economy depends on promoting tourism in village

SO THERE you are, stuck in traffic in Clondalkin village – again.

Our modern life demands swift transit, but the streets and roads in Clondalkin village weren’t built for that.

Also, our population has increased and there are more road users nowadays than even 50 years ago.

Motorists in Clondalkin may complain as they wait for traffic to clear, forgetting that visitors and tourists think our street-scapes and vistas are charming.

Instead of grumbling about traffic jams, perhaps we should consider how much our economy depends on tourism and the importance of promoting our history and heritage in the “visitor economy”.

Let’s be grateful we still have something to promote.

Perhaps we need to see our village in a new light – to understand it better; cherish it more, and care about how its streets and roads appear to ourselves and visitors.

Different bollard designs make our MainStreet look uncared-for

Like James Joyce remembering Dublin City’s streets, they are part of the life that made us who we are.

It’s reasonable to say that the layout of Clondalkin village was established long ago when life was necessarily much slower – and demands were simpler in some ways.

The village came into being (roughly 500-600AD) at the time of St Crónán Mochua’s monastery here and the Slí Mhór.

Today, our village thoroughfares are said to follow roughly the same routes as they did back then.

You’ll see our village centre layout hasn’t changed much since at least 1760.

In the early Christian and medieval eras, most ordinary people in Ireland were born, lived, worked and died within a small radius of their home place.

They walked anywhere they needed to go.

It usually wasn’t far.

If some people travelled beyond their home place – for instance, political leaders, monks or traders – they went on foot, on horseback or by horse-drawn vehicles, depending on their resources.

They estimated a journey’s length by the number of days it would take.

Now, we measure road journeys in miles or kilometres because we have other, faster modes of transport.

Only air and sea-travel are measured by time nowadays.

Once a route became established – for example, the Slí Mhór – it remained in use as long as it brought people where they needed to go and the road surface was suitable for traffic.

Local leaders were responsible for any road repairs in their area.

It was in their interest to do so.

There were no town planners, no County Councils.

Today, our County Council and road engineers are responsible for repairing our roads, calculating our future needs and providing for them.

Their responsibilities require specialist training and experience, but the demands on their skills are so varied they can’t always satisfy everyone.

Our local authority tries to take all road-users’ needs into account, as well as the needs of pedestrians.

Sometimes these requirements clash.

Thankfully, SDCC has preserved the routes of our medieval village thoroughfares.

Clondalkin’s modern traffic flow along our ancient routes has been aided by the one-way traffic system initiated in 1997.

Newer roadways on the outskirts have helped further to alleviate traffic flow through the village.

People are being encouraged to walk to their destination (medieval times returning!) or to cycle there.

Sadly, a mutual antipathy has grown between some road users (cyclists and motorists) and also between some who use footpaths (cyclists and pedestrians).

If human nature is a constant, then chariot-drivers, horsemen and pedestrians said much the same about each other back in medieval times when they shared the same road space.

Although travelling from place to place is referred to in some of our ancient Irish writings, tourism as we mean it is not mentioned.

Visitors to Clondalkin village today who must travel by car will find it difficult to locate an inexpensive car-parking space there, if at all.

Fines for over-time parking are punitive and disfavour those who can’t use public transport, be they Clondalkin residents who can’t easily walk or cycle, or tourists.

Our country’s wealth depends partly on visitors to the place we call home.

Tourism has provided many successful careers and will hopefully flourish anew after recent setbacks.

With more attention, Ireland’s Ancient East (that us!) will prove as great a success as the Wild Atlantic Way, and such success depends on us, individually and collectively.

The medieval character of our ancient village and its appearance is surely a central part of our tourism-enhancing efforts.

It also matters to the residents.

Much is needed for our village to achieve and sustain its tourism potential.

“Small things” do matter, for instance, clean streets, placenames and furniture, shopfronts.

Clondalkin Tidy Towns volunteers are the quiet champions of the area.

The corrected nameplate for Bettyfort was put in place recently and hopefully the street-sign for Pope’s Lane will be put back soon.

Nangor Road’s nameplate is different on both sides of the road as it joins Tower Road, but maybe that’s part of our village charm so valued by tourists.

Respectfully, some of our street furniture needs attention.

There are many different designs of bollards along Main Street, some are of plastic and belong much more in a modern setting.

Have a look, next time you’re there.

There’s only one venerable bollard which doesn’t look out of place.

Hopefully the County Council will replace them soon with one design, suitable for our medieval village.

Regarding shopfronts, SDCC has a Shopfront Grant Scheme.

Our present Mayor said recently: “The Shop Front Grant Scheme provides an excellent opportunity for local businesses to enhance the aesthetics of their stores and encourage the preservation of our beautiful villages.”

South Dublin County Council have asked KPMG to conduct a tourism survey for the area.

Residents of our Council district, would-be and returning visitors are asked to complete the survey and contribute to what will happen next.

The survey is available via the SurveyMonkey website HERE

There are 15 questions to answer.

Some take longer than others, but none are difficult.

The more people who complete the survey, hopefully the more tailored and desirable SDCC’s responses will be.

Congratulations to all who care about Clondalkin’s heritage.

Some may grumble about the County Council, but if enough residents don’t vote in local elections, don’t answer surveys, don’t avail of grants, won’t let them know what our opinions are and why – how can SDCC serve us properly?

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