RTÉ One documentary on towns bypassed by the M7
RTÉ One is broadcasting a documentary featuring Tipperary on Tuesday July 5th at 9.35pm.
'Bypassed' tells the story of the towns along the route of Ireland's first motorway, the M7, looking at how they were impacted by the road and how they responded to the changes it brought with it.
Filmed over a year, 'Bypassed', a one-hour documentary for RTÉ One, tells the story of Ireland's first motorway - the M7 from Dublin to Limerick - and the towns and communities it has left in its wake.The first section of the motorway was opened at Naas in 1983 and it was completed at the end of 2010 at an estimated cost of €2 billion. Across this beautifully shot film we encounter people and businesses in towns from Monasterevin to Moneygall who have been impacted – both positively and negatively – by this 164-kilometre length of tarmac.
Over the course of the hour we follow the single journey of a transcontinental truck driver as he makes his way home from Dublin Port to Limerick. We also take the roads now less travelled into the towns of Naas, Monasterevin, Mountrath, Portlaoise, Borris-in-Ossory, Roscrea and Nenagh.
In Monasterevin, we meet an Italian chip shop owner Luigi Iafrate and his son and heir apparent; in Mountrath we encounter two dynamic twins - Reuben and Jonathan Murray - who are campaigning for a youth cafe; and in Portlaoise we meet PJ Kavanagh, a publican, as he brings his new born baby boy back to their home above the shop floor, as well as well-known fashion designer Heidi Higgins and photographer Paddy Ryan.
In Moneygall there’s funeral director and shop keeper John Donovan, who is in reflective mood as the shiny new Obama Plaza has effectively superseded the village.
In Borris-in-Ossory, we find Grace Pym, a castle owner who is aggrieved at the lack of passing trade, and in Roscrea we meet an anti-drug campaigner who feels the motorway has enabled the supply and sale of drugs in the town.
'Bypassed'reveals human stories, demographic trends and social issues that are not only unfolding in these communities off the M7 but in similar communities and towns across an increasingly bypassed Midlands.