In Deserted Village, Independent producer and reformed archaeologist Jane Ruffino journeys from boom to bust, as she examines what happened when development sites and houses became a cash crop in lovely Leitrim…
This one-hour documentary looks in depth at one chapter of a county’s landscape, through the stories of people who shape it. It’s a tale of short-lived prosperity, long-standing community, absent homeowners, and invisible St Patrick’s Day parades.
Since the economic crash, news crews would often visit Leitrim, find the most harrowing crashtime housing estate, report against a backdrop of rain-soaked dereliction, and go home again. We went from from boomtime property porn to present-day ruin porn. The housing bubble is often discussed as a crisis of bricks and mortar, and of large-scale financial disaster, which makes it all too easy to ignore the way people’s lives intertwine, and runs the risk of depersonalizing not only the crisis, but the entire landscape. How were so many houses built? Who was buying them? What happens now, and how will we read this landscape in the future?
Farmer Michael Dolan, who sold a piece of land to put his kids through college says, “It will be difficult to explain what has happened, except that people got on a merry-go-round and were just blind.”
This documentary looks at two villages, Keshcarrigan and Newtowngore, and the town of Ballinamore. We meet a broad slice of the population and get a more nuanced story -- no heroes, no villains, no happily-ever-afters. What made up the culture of the boom and crash, and how has the community responded?
Martina Gorby, who runs the post office and shop in Newtowngore and looks into an unfinished estate every day, says, “I love my village -- it’s my home. I love it as much as I hate the estates.”
Leitrim’s housing oversupply is a real problem that needs to be confronted, but people were moving to Leitrim, and still do -- just not to the housing estates. Carpenter and craftsman Charlie Perpoil moved here from France, “There’s something magnetic -- maybe it’s the iron in Sliabh an Iarann. It’s an absolutely gorgeous county.”
Deserted Village will air on Saturday November 29th from 7am-8am and is repeated on Sunday, November 30th from 9am-10am.
‘Deserted Village’ can also be listened to online at: www.newstalk.com
Podcast available at: www.newstalk.com/documentaryonnewstalk after the broadcast.
BROADCAST DETAILS: Deserted Village is part of Documentary On Newstalk’s Winter Season, and was originally broadcast in March 2012.
CREDITS:Deserted Village was made by Jane Ruffino and mixed by Liam O’Cathasaigh. The project was supported by a grant from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
PRODUCER BIOG: Jane Ruffino is an independent producer, recovering archaeologist, writer, and tech marketer. She has previously produced “Skint City”, for Phantom 105.2, and is completing a radio feature on the Jeanie Johnston. She is the technology columnist for the Sunday Business post. She now lives in Stockholm, Sweden, and is Chief Marketing Officer of search engine startup Loop54.
