The recession has prompted a lot of talk about the best way to generate long-term economic growth.
There's been no shortage of ideas, but Councillor Cyril Burke is one of the few to take the brave step of putting his plan out before the public.
The Ballyglass native told Fiona McGarry about his 'big idea' and why he believes it can deliver huge local and national benefits.

In the heart of south Mayo lies a community that bucks the trend of declining rural villages and diminishing populations. Fiona McGarry visited the Bishop O'Healy Resource Centre in Mayo Abbey to see proof that resourceful and visionary communities can develop and sustain their own services and maintain their social structure.

When Mayo Abbey Community Council came together in 1993 to plan for the future, it took its first steps in a remarkable project that has made the village a hub for education, development and sustainability.

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O change any system takes courage. To build a new one takes originality, determination and grit. As an athlete, a teacher and a community development worker has proven she's a trailblazer.
Almost a year after taking her first political position as a member of Castlebar Town Council, she spoke to Fiona McGarry about her dream of changing the system from within.

I'VE always stood up to authority, that's something instinctive in me," affirms the dynamic town councillor who has taken time out to meet me between the end of a long working day and the beginning of an evening that will involve several community development projects, including a radical new town garden initiative.