An 'undesirable place to live'? Mighty Mitchelstown community hits back!

How would you feel if your town was labelled an ‘undesirable place to live’?

That was the fate meted out to Mitchelstown earlier this month, when a study named it as the ‘least desirable’ property location in Ireland.

The report, by luggage delivery company My Baggage, used four factors on which to base its findings, connected to property searches on Google and property prices.

The North Cork town scored the lowest using the index - so I headed out to Mitchelstown for the day to see how the locals felt about being labelled as a place where few people apparently want to live.

Not surprisingly, I was met with a barrage of patriotic locals keen to emphasise the positives of life there... and I could only concur.

My first port of call was to one of the many cafés dotted around the town. I received a lovely welcome in Blueberries Cafe and the selection of cakes and pastries there were to die for - highly desirable, in other words.

I counted at least eight cafés dotted around, and all of them have beautiful exteriors, outdoor seating, lovely food, and were very reasonably priced.

Café Praline even boasts its own chocolatier, winning McKenna guide awards for the last four years!

Finns artisan butchers have an array of speciality foods - a tradition that Nora Finn is rightly very proud of.

There were also beautiful clothing stores on the main street, and many of them had sales that I found hard to resist!

The next thing I noticed was the spotlessly clean streets - not a fag-end to be seen anywhere. That’s hardly surprising when the local tidy towns group have many volunteers and a passion for their locality.

There was precious little dereliction too. The took looked alive and active.

The architecture is divine, and much of it is Georgian, as befits the town’s history linked to the Earls of Kingston.

The facilities are also very impressive. There is a huge new library, complete with business hubs. A leisure centre, astro turf pitches, a full-time youth worker, a Buddhist centre, historical society, tennis club...

There is a Thursday market in the square, two-hour free parking for visitors, a bug trail for smallies, a fully equipped children’s park, and thriving community allotments. It’s a dog-friendly place too.

St George’s Arts and Heritage Centre in Mitchelstown would give St Catherine’s in Kinsale and the Sea Church in Ballycotton a good run for their money when it comes to beauty and innovation.

So far, so good.

Local Fine Gael councillor Kay Dawson told me all about her town as we strolled past the sites on the Historic Walking Trail.

“We love it,” she says, “we have countless organisations, all manned by volunteers, keeping our town vibrant and open to all.”

Things to see and do?

“There’s local walking groups and trails making the most of the mountains,” says Cllr Dawson.

“Theres’s parking facilities. You can do mountain biking with a local group with all equipment supplied.

“Families love going over to Doneraile Park and of course the caves.”

How about negatives? Many towns have issues with some anti-social behaviour for instance?

“I think every town will experience a bit of that, but there’s not much here,” says Kay. “We have a wonderful local garda, John Hennessy, and he’s so approachable and well known.

“Would I feel safe on my own walking here after dark? Absolutely!

“Some of the cafés are opening at night now and it’s keeping the town alive and vibrant well into the evenings.

“There’s always music in a few of the pubs at weekends and we’re starting to notice more people coming to visit us as there’s two wonderful top-notch hotels in the town too.”

Is there a strong sense of community in Mitchelstown?

Ther are between 40 and 50 community groups!” says Kay.

“Everything from the tidy towns to the age-friendly group who meet at least three times per week. They have regular outings, the destinations decided on by themselves.

“We conducted a study on mobility and the results of that ensured that we made it as age- friendly as possible, whether that was seating or accessibility.

“There a huge community spirit here and anything that needs to get done will be taken on until the project is completed. It has been that way for years.”

The town is well stocked for supermarkets too, with a Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, and Supervalu.

Are there enough doctors?

“There are three new young doctors who recently moved to the area so any previous issues with getting appointments have bene rectified,” said Kay.

Are there enough schools if the population were to grow?

“Yes, definitely, and they’re excellent schools!

So, why would Mitchelstown be scoring low on the desirability scale?

It’s all to do with housing,” says Kay. “We are almost at capacity with regard to sewage facilities so now houses can’t be built until this issue is sorted.

“This is a problem that Irish Water inherited but it’s still not getting rectified. All the local councillors have been pushing this issue for years with motions in the Dail, but progress is slow.

“There is capacity for the new housing developments currently underway, one by the mart and one at the old convert site, because of a third instillation, but beyond that waste water is still an issue. The current system just hasn’t the capacity to facilitate new development.

“This problem is unresolved since 2019. Water and sewage are an issue in many areas around the country but Mitchelstown and surrounding villages that have problems with water supply need to become a priority at this stage. It’s embarrassing how long it is taking to sort out this problem.

“We have zoned land here ready to go to developers, but they can’t break ground with the situation as it is.”

So, not uniquely in Ireland, it seems housing is at the core of Mitchelstown’s problems.

There are currently no homes available to rent here, and only 15 to buy, according to the website daft.ie. Does that make it an undesirable place to live? Not in my eyes.