Action not oratory needed at times like these
Last week the doors closed at Ivory’s shop on the Main Street for the last time – 68 years after it first opened.
The proprietor Billy Cush was “devastated” at the closure and made some pointed remarks regarding the reasons why his grocery store had to close down.
Among the reasons Billy felt was to blame was the high cost of commercial rates in the town. Another was the apparent trend for major retailers to move away from the centre of the town.
If we look at the Main Street in Gorey, it is clear that, in recent times, this once thriving thoroughfare is seriously feeling the effects of the economic downturn. Across the street from Ivory’s The Bank bar and restaurant closed its doors in the past few weeks and alongside it another premises remains vacant.
While this is worrying, another issue that could see the Main Street resemble a ghost town is the imminent move from the Market House of the library and council offices.
If the Market House is not immediately reoccupied, it will add another nail in the coffin of Gorey’s retail hub and any potential businesses looking to set up in the South East will surely think twice about setting up on a street where a sizeable proportion of the units are vacant or closed down.
The council didn’t raise the commercial rates in this year’s budget. This however is not the proactive solution to the problem which is needed. What if they had slashed the rates in order to attract businesses to the town and as a result brought some vibrancy back to the Main Street.
This week also saw a meeting held in the Ashdown Park Hotel where a large crowd gathered to discuss the plans for the Showgrounds and Town Park. While there were representatives from sports clubs and other interested parties at the meeting, it seemed as if the four or five councillors at the meeting were treating it as another podium for their views to be heard.
Lorcan Allen, Malcolm Byrne and Michael D’Arcy dominated the meeting and while they are fully entitled to their say, the meeting seemed a little like a party political broadcast and not the open discussion that was needed.
While the possibility of the Showgrounds being redeveloped must be welcomed in the town, it is not at the front of a lot of people’s minds compared to lost revenue and lost jobs elsewhere in the town.
The opening of the new Civic Centre on the Avenue (whenever that will happen) will again give the town a boost, but there needs to be a action taken, and soon, by those in charge about bringing jobs to Gorey.
The IDA have been criticised recently for not bringing a single job to the town in the past 20 years, yet those who know the town a lot better and have been elected by the people of the town need to stand up now and do what they can to bring some employment to the area.
Dr. Zion Evrony, the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, was recently welcomed to the Market House by the town councillors, officials and representatives of the local business and artistic community.
As he sat in the council chamber listening to the politicians and businessmen speak about the great plans they had for links between Gorey and Israel, Dr. Evrony stopped them and said that he didn’t just want to speak about these things. “Let’s be practical.”
Those three simple words should be adopted as the mantra of the council in Gorey and it would serve them and the town well if at future meetings, instead of grandstanding and one-upmanship they would just get down to business and do what is practical for Gorey and what will hopefully return the Main Street to a thriving centre of commerce.
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