Here roads are classified as motorways, national roads, regional roads and local roads. I traverse the local roads which vary greatly in quality. This is where I encounter two tire marks (roads) squeezed between stone walls, making the narrow single lane even more harrowing. A vertical mass of green out the passenger window (left side of the vehicle) contains a hidden stone wall. If I view a pristine stone wall, it’s either a fake (a stone facade backed by cinderblocks) or the property owner has a caretaker. My new career! On local roads, you yield to the larger vehicle. I’ve seen cars back down a road to allow clearance. I’ve had to jump to the foot of a wall, avoiding nettle and briar, when a wide farm vehicle passes.

The upsides to what appears to be a lack of modern road infrastructure in Ireland by American standards are: there are no billboards, minimal light pollution (minor roads are not lit), preserving the landscape is prioritized (therefore lots of curves), and roads are shared equally between livestock, wheeled vehicles, and humans. This last point is good and bad; I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, listening for motors (which sound like intense wind at times), and peaking around hairpin turns before proceeding. Still, I label these all as positive attributes.

Because of these historical walls (Ireland's Dry Stone Walls achieved UNESCO World Heritage status), roads can’t be widened. It seems most people are okay with this. It forces interaction. You must make eye contact with the other driver, give a two-finger wave, and then act. An Uber driver (yes, there is Uber!) said the stone walls around roads were constructed as part of a governmental back-to-work program, reminiscent of the New Deal during the Great Depression in the States.

Ireland was under British rule during the two potato famines in the West. Parliament created relief policies to put to work starving Irish farmers in exchange for food. The farmers cleared stones (which are everywhere) from the fields of their English landlords and built walls. In turn, they receive payment for their toiling work, but not enough to purchase food. This is a historically recorded laissez-faire approach to the real problem. “The walls do indeed divide nothing much from nothing much. Their purpose, aside from income provision, was to clear the land of stones, the wall just nothing more than a place to put them. In fact clearing these mountains of stone would be impossible…so it was a thankless task.” –DoChara.com. (2008).

Although it is accurate that Britain’s policies enabled the creation of “famine walls” as they are now labeled, there is not much information about erecting walls around roads. But, “famine roads” are also part of the British relief effort and are viewed with equal venom. So, the Uber driver was onto something.

Maureen Nollette

Maureen Nollette