Irish Examiner article Thursday 2nd March 2006

Getting involved in the community is one thing rebuilding it is another.

Yet that's exactly what the residents of Chuchtown in north Cork did and now their pretty village is seen as a model for other small communities. Determined to arrest a steady decline that began in the 1950s, local man Gerry Murphy founded the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust in 1997. It engaged with local groups, entrepreneurs and national agencies, such as FÁS's community training programme, in an attempt to turn things around. Now, the derelict buildings are a thing of the past, new homes have been built and business is booming.

"The key to rural renewal is to introduce a degree of commercialism into the equation", said Mr Murphy, who was named Cork Person of the Year in 2001 for his rural renewal efforts.

A commercial discipline has the potential to make the renewal sustainable. That was why as well as founding the trust we set about developing a commercial centre to the village. Mr Murphy said that while the voluntary and entrepreneurial sectors can create an environment for success, implementation has been accelerated by input from the likes of FÁS.

The Churchtown renewal project was a regional winner at the FÁS Community Enterprise Awards in 2001, and strong links remain between the town and the Government agency.

A permanent mark of FÁS's involvement has been left in the village in the form of a bronze sculpture that celebrates the area's equine history. Essentially, it has taken a carefully planned combination of social and commercial initiatives, said Mr Murphy. It has created a dynamic environment in what was a dying village up to 1996.

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