Fintan O’Toole: ‘Rural Ireland’ has been romanticised up to its neck

Piety about rural values never did anything to stop the receding tide of depopulation

Sat, Jun 29, 2019, 06:00

Fintan O'Toole

John Wayne (left), Maureen O’Hara, Sean McClory and Charles Fitzsimons on the set of 'The Quiet Man', directed by John Ford, circa 1952 in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

John Wayne (left), Maureen O’Hara, Sean McClory and Charles Fitzsimons on the set of 'The Quiet Man', directed by John Ford, circa 1952 in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

In a series of articles, The Irish Times explores five challenges facing rural Ireland – diversity and migration; poverty; rapid growth; post-recession recovery; and depopulation – and ways to overcome them.

Nobody looks to John Ford’s classic 1952 movie The Quiet Man for a realistic portrait of rural Ireland.

Please subscribe or to continue reading.

Most Read

1 Boris Johnson on Varadkar: ‘Why isn’t he called Murphy like all the rest of them’

2 Fintan O’Toole: Trial runs for fascism are in full flow

3 Record-breaking heatwave set to hit Europe as rain warning issued for Ireland

4 Girl (14) was sexually assaulted by man after being invited for sleepovers

5 Brexit: MPs narrow Johnson’s no-deal room for manoeuvre

6 Australian family fears for Irish citizenship applications after ruling

7 Agencies in Ireland ignored the experience I had gained in New Zealand

8 Trump says he was ‘not happy’ about ‘send her back’ chants

9 Cherry blossom trees ‘in silly places’ cut down in Dublin

10 Q&A: What the motor tax changes could mean for you

11 Fair City actor lived his life ‘to the full’, funeral Mass told

12 Taking Takeda global with Irish pharma plant centre stage

13 Irishman in Atlanta on undocumented immigrants: ‘I get a pass’

14 One of Ireland’s last tinsmiths wonders who will carry on the tradition after him

15 Taoiseach opens Enniscorthy bypass amid locals’ concerns

16 Charlie Flanagan says Ireland won’t sign up to migrant agreement

17 Man jailed for rape has conviction quashed on ‘almost inconceivable’ omission by judge

18 Tech graduates earn most within five years of college exit

19 How we deal with Lisa Smith will tell us something about ourselves

20 Battle of Britain pilot at 100: ‘The only advice I can give to people is be Irish’

21 Clare Daly defends hiring Mick Wallace’s son as EU assistant

22 Ana Kriégel murder trial: The complete story

23 Pharma boss calls for Ireland to invest in waste management

24 Wife of Irish man facing deportation says all she has is hope

25 ‘Without the air-conditioner, it is hell’: Irish in Europe on the heatwave

26 Varadkar raises prospect of Brexit backstop applying only to North

27 Residents ‘devastated’ by felling of trees, letters to councils show

28 Parents are being ‘eradicated from the lives of their children for no good reason’

29 Builder of children’s hospital slates ‘uncontrollable risks’

30 Minimum wage a tool for equality but no panacea for poverty

31 Bernard Sumner: ‘We made music because we hated work and normality’

32 Treatment table rather than the range beckons for sore Tiger

33 JB Holmes holds first round lead as Portrush gives mental examination

34 Boris Johnson and 72 Virgins: What we can learn from his terrible novel

35 Turkey ignores EU with plan to deploy fourth ship off Cyprus

36 Enniscorthy bypass will ‘utterly transform’ town

37 Dublin Flea Christmas Market to cease operations

38 GameFace: Roisin Conaty serves up sexual frankness and women-behaving-badly comedy

39 Peter McVerry: Rebuilding Ireland is an abject failure

40 Major changes to motor tax proposed for upcoming budget

Real news has value

Sign In

Forgot Password?

Sign Out