Eamon Ryan points to history of hospitality at Cork beauty spot

ENVIRONMENT Minister Eamon Ryan, referred to the ancient Irish tradition of hospitality as he delivered a strong rebuke to anti-immigrant campaigners protesting against the arrival of refugees into towns, villages, and other communities around Ireland during his visit to Cork this week.

The Green Party leader was visiting Gougane Barra, where St Finbar founded a monastery in 600 AD, where hundreds of educators were trained before travelling to the European continent.

Just days before this week’s EU Parliament and local elections, Mr Ryan spoke to The Echo while in the beautiful Cork Gaeltacht.

“They had a tradition, they sent people all over Europe, they educated Europe over five centuries, and there was a rule that a lot of people came back here from Europe — they wanted to come to the source of knowledge and culture —there was a rule in the monastery that you housed, fed, and educated whoever turned up,” said Mr Ryan.

The minister — who visits Gougane Barra frequently, and established a cycling holiday business which has one of its main bases in the Gougane Barra Hotel — was in Cork supporting his party’s Macroom electoral area candidate in the local elections, Harriet Burgess, on her canvass.

He was upbeat about the candidate’s chances and referred to a survey carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency which sought the views of more than 4,000 people about the action needed to combat climate change, which he believes is an indication of hope for his party.

“What they found was people are concerned about their environmental future for themselves, their children, their children’s children, and it didn’t change rural or urban, rich or poor, young or old — it’s an intrinsic concern,” he said.

“You hear a lot about Greens versus farming and rural and whatever but, actually, it’s our job to overcome that through listening and engagement, it’s not through telling anyone what to do but asking for their help.”

The candidate herself is keen to highlight issues such as rural transport and the state of footpaths in local villages and wants to focus on these issues if her campaign is successful, She also wants to gain National Park status for the Gearagh, the temperate rainforest in an inland river delta flooded by the ESB in the 1950s and, alongside ecologist and author Kevin Corcoran, a public meeting has been held and other actions undertaken to gain support.

“I think we have to transfer this area into National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) ownership so we can protect it in the years to come,” she said.