Pettigo - Economy

Economy

Once a thriving market village on the Enniskillen and Bundoran Railway, the village suffered from partition in 1922, the closure of the railway in 1957 and from the closure of numerous cross-border roads by the British army at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The latter had the effect of cutting Pettigo off from much of its rural hinterland in counties Fermanagh and Tyrone. In recent years economic prospects have improved with the reopening of many of the cross-border roads, improving access for tourists and locals alike.

Agriculture, particularly the rearing of sheep and cattle, forms the mainstay of the local economy. The quality of the local land (marshy, with much blanket bog) renders it largely unsuitable for grain crops. There are also expansive forestry plantations in the surrounding townlands, owned and operated by Coillte Teoranta, the Republic's Forestry Service. Many of the plantations occupy land unsuitable for other commercial uses, or where peat extraction has been completed, leaving poor quality thin soil cover behind. The Sitka Spruce and Lodgepole Pine softwood varieties comprise 90% of the canopy.

Pettigo has traditionally been the 'gateway' to St. Patrick's Purgatory, a Christian pilgrimage site, situated on an island in Lough Derg. During the mid-late 20th century, the popularity of the pilgrimage brought a significant boost to the local economy as tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over Ireland and abroad travelled through the village on their way to and from Lough Derg. Although the popularity of the pilgrimage has dwindled in recent years, it is still an important driver of tourism in the area.