Duhallow in the IRD Duhallow context confirms approximately with the ancient barony of Duhallow, West Muskerry and parts of East Kerry covering the upper Blackwater River and surrounding hills. It is about 400 sq. miles in area and contains a population of some 30,000 people. Largely rural, there are four market towns, Rathmore, Kanturk, Millstreet and Newmarket and a number of villages. The agricultural land graduates from the fertile valley soils to the marginal land of the surrounding hills, with dairy farming predominating.

Greater than 90% of the land in Duhallow is classified by the Department of Agriculture as disadvantaged or severely handicapped. The land is mostly subject to poor drainage and is of limited use since clay soils predominate. The Mullaghareirk Mountains cover much of the north and west of Duhallow, while the Derrynasaggart and Boggeragh ranges cover the area south of Rathmore, Millstreet and Banteer. Here the land is generally unproductive. There are also some upland areas where land use is severely limited with reclaimed podzol and peaty podzol soils. This is particularly true of the areas around Gneeveguilla, Ballydesmond and Rockchapel where much of the land is covered by raised bog. Duhallow has one of the highest concentrations of forestry in Ireland.

Farm structure has changed over the last 20 years with the following results:

The loss of about 1000 farming families;

• Renting and sale of farms to large landowners;
  
• Closure of creameries and other services;
  
• Out migration of young people;
  
• A gender imbalance;
  
• An aging farming population;
  
• Increasing afforestation (area tripled since 1970)

With this background and the fact that the population of Duhallow had halved in the past 100 years a group of concerned people came together in the late 1980s with an objective "to stem this decline in population" and "improve the quality of life in Duhallow." This group was originally called the Blackwater Valley Tourism and Fishing Development, but later came under the umbrella of Integrated Resource Development (IRD) - and so the name IRD Duhallow was born. (Similar IRD groups were set up at Waterville-Foxford and Ballina). The original group was not democratically elected, but were selected because of the interest they had in the project and the influence they had in various sections of the community. They were very successful in raising funds and generating awareness in every community in Duhallow.

IRD Duhallow was well established and ideally placed when the EU LEADER programme was developed. LEADER stands for Liaisons Entre Actions de Development de I'Economic Rurale (liaisons between actions for the development of the rural economy). It is an EU community initiative for rural development designed to find innovative solutions to local problems by availing of local organisational capacity and expertise. LEADER enables people to have an input into the development of their own areas by devising strategies, which will create employment and wealth to revitalise the less developed and fragile rural areas.

IRD Duhallow was successful in their application for funding from LEADER I, but in order to meet LEADER criteria the Board of Directors had to be restructured. Board members had to be elected from the community sector, the social sector, the state sector and the business sector. A manager and professional staff had to be recruited. A sub structure dealing each sector of the programme was put in place. Financial and auditing procedures were developed. Also a gender balance had to be achieved at all levels of the organisation.

Today, IRD Duhallow is a community-based rural development company that promotes rural development in the Duhallow area. The company combines the efforts and resources of the State Bodies, Local Authorities, local communities and individual entrepreneurs for the benefit of the local area. The main objective of IRD Duhallow is to establish and to support initiatives directed towards the generation of enterprise for the benefit and welfare of communities in Duhallow who may be deprived due to rural depopulation, immigration, lack of training, economic deprivation or poor infrastructure.

The LEADER programme provides the main funding to IRD Duhallow, but it also gets substantial funding from the local development programme as well as from many other EU, Local Authority and Government Agencies.

It was a major achievement when IRD Duhallow was awarded LEADER I funding. This was project-driven and enabled the infrastructure for tourism to be put in place with flagship projects, e.g., Millstreet Country Park; the Duhallow driving trail; and the Blackwater walking way. More over other important enterprise projects created much needed employment.

LEADER II was community-based. Plans were put in place in consultation with each community dealing with economic, social and environmental issues. The face of Duhallow changed. LEADER money primed the pump and encouraged communities to help themselves. Parks appeared in villages. Heritage centres and teach ceoils were developed. But most important the spirit of the Duhallow people latent for so long re-emerged. The third round of funding, LEADER Plus, is awaited with interest!!

 

Coillte's local forest manager, Michael Doyle, through his local community involvement and the important role of forestry in the Duhallow area, has been on the board of IRD Duhallow since 1990, and represents Coillte as part of the state services group.

In his role as Director on the Board he facilitated the development of the Blackwater Walking Way, which links the Kerry Way to the South and the Avondhu Way to the North. The work of mapping and marking the Blackwater Way was contracted to Coillte.

The Island Wood community forestry development is another Coillte initiative that involves IRD Duhallow, Cork County Council, and FÁS in partnership. Coillte is facilitating the development of recreational facilities in Island Wood (approx. 80ha) to be used by the Newmarket community, while it continues to commercially manage the forest - consultation is the keystone to this successful partnership approach.

Michael Doyle believe's that partnership with rural development groups, "is consultation at it's best. It can be formal, informal or ad hoc depending on circumstances. Not only does it embrace the social requirement of responsible forest management, but it can make an important impact in the environmental and recreational area (for example the development of Island Wood) and in the economic domain (local communities are demanding a return from forestry to their own community - grants made available for timber extraction using horses is a good example of this)."

Michael Doyle believe's that partnership with rural development groups, "is consultation at it's best. It can be formal, informal or ad hoc depending on circumstances. Not only does it embrace the social requirement of responsible forest management, but it can make an important impact in the environmental and recreational area (for example the development of Island Wood) and in the economic domain (local communities are demanding a return from forestry to their own community - grants made available for timber extraction using horses is a good example of this)."

Michael Doyle believe's that partnership with rural development groups, "is consultation at it's best. It can be formal, informal or ad hoc depending on circumstances. Not only does it embrace the social requirement of responsible forest management, but it can make an important impact in the environmental and recreational area (for example the development of Island Wood) and in the economic domain (local communities are demanding a return from forestry to their own community - grants made available for timber extraction using horses is a good example of this)."