DEAR SIR:

As a rural dweller, I read with great interest the article on rural isolation in the Irish Farmers Journal of 25 March 2017.

The rural Ireland I grew up in during the 1960s and 1970s was indeed very different to today. There was so much more communication between neighbours. People would drop in and out of each other’s houses for a cup of tea and a chat and of course there were always the ramblers at night time.

It’s a sad day when we have to organise such evenings in community halls across Ireland while people could just drop in of an evening for a chat with someone living close to them.

We may well ask when did everything begin to change and why. Many say it was the coming of television into our homes, or the fact that many couples are both working and have much to do when they arrive home tired in the evenings. But I think apart from such facts, people became better off and it became the in thing to live an independent life.

Let us remember, before the high walls and big gates were built, they had already gone up in the minds of the people. The friendly interest in other people’s lives was taken over by self-importance and self-interest.

It’s true that the closure of post offices, small shops etc has not helped the cause, but we have to ask ourselves why a lot of those closures have taken place.

If the local post office or shop is not supported by the local people, then there is no livelihood to be made and they are often running at a loss. I think we do need better rural transport in place to connect people to various services they may need.