This article is from page 19 of the 2006-07-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
A SURVEY conducted by Macra Na Feirme last weekend has shown that a large percentage of people in Ireland believe that people in Ireland are less likely to speak to their neighbours than they were in the past.
The survey, which was conducted from a random selection of 300 people, found that 73 per cent believe that neighbourliness is on the decline. The survey revealed that 36 per cent of Irish people did not have any contact with their neighbours while 70 per cent said that they had rarely or never been inside a neighbours house.
“It depends on the area that you are talking about,” said the Macra’s Chairman in Clare, Joe Carrick. “It’s definitely more of a problem in urban areas of the county with people tending to know their neighbours better in the country.”
However, of the 194 people who said they did not know their neighbours very well, 62 per cent commented that they would like to get to know them better.
“It does have a negative impact on society,” said Macra’s Clare Secretary, Deirdre Samson.
“It is a society based problem rather than an individual one. Initiatives like this will help to draw attention to it, but people need to be more aware of it.
“You can bring a horse to water, but you cant make them drink.”