Emma Healy
Few counties in Ireland can match Roscommon when it comes to volunteering. But recent figures, together with the experience of some local organisations, point to a quieter challenge: ensuring a new generation is ready to take the reins when long-serving volunteers eventually step back.
Sports clubs, festivals, Tidy Towns committees, charities, heritage groups and local events — so much of what happens in County Roscommon happens because someone, somewhere, is giving their time for free. But when the people who have kept those organisations going for years eventually decide to step back, who takes over?
Census figures put the picture in context: almost 11,600 people in Roscommon — around one in six residents — volunteered in some form in 2022. Sport accounted for close to 4,900 of them, community work for roughly 4,400, and social or charitable causes for over 2,800.
The biggest single group of volunteers — 4,717 people — were aged 45 to 64. Another 2,267 were 65 or older. By comparison, just over 1,000 volunteers were aged 15 to 24.
CSO figures from the second quarter of 2025 found 17.8% of 45-to-64-year-olds volunteering, and 17.2% of those aged 65 to 74 — versus 13.9% of 15-to-24-year-olds. The 65-to-74 age group also put in the most hours of anyone.
None of this means volunteering itself is fading. Quite the opposite — the West of Ireland, taking in Roscommon, Galway and Mayo, posted the highest volunteering rate in the country in that same CSO survey, at 19.4%.
The issue, then, is not simply enthusiasm, but succession — making sure the know-how, contacts and sense of responsibility built up over decades are passed on when a long-serving organiser finally calls it a day.
Roscommon Agricultural Show Treasurer Tracey Hanlon Owens said the distinction is particularly evident around show time.
“You can get people to come for a day, but it’s trying to get people to commit,” she said.
While the public sees the show itself each August, Tracey said preparations begin just after Christmas — and the work does not stop once show day is over.
In the weeks afterwards, judges’ books have to be checked, exhibitors paid, invoices processed and reports submitted to funding bodies.
“People don’t realise how much goes on in the background,” she said, describing the organising work at times as feeling “like a full-time job”.
That makes succession particularly important.
Tracey said the show has long-standing older committee members whose experience has been built up over many years, while she, the secretary and assistant treasurer are among its younger organisers.
The aim is to bring new people in alongside experienced members so that they can gradually learn what is involved rather than suddenly finding themselves responsible for an entire section.
“We’ve been doing it for years, trying to get people in behind them to try and teach them what needs to be done step-by-step,” she said.
“You can’t throw anyone in at the deep end.”
Time is another factor. Tracey said the committee now makes a conscious effort to keep its meetings to around an hour, recognising that volunteers also have work, homes and families outside the organisation.
She also praised Roscommon Volunteer Centre for supplying volunteers on show day, many of whom return to the same roles year after year.
Roscommon Gaels Chairperson Seamus Carthy said the town club has been fortunate in continuing to attract new volunteers while retaining the experience of people who have served for much longer periods.
“We’ve always been very, very lucky over the years to get an influx of new people, whilst also having the established, longer-term volunteer,” he said.
That combination, he believes, allows the club to benefit both from people capable of taking a longer-term view and from fresh involvement year after year.
But volunteering in sport increasingly involves more than simply turning up to coach a team. Seamus pointed to requirements such as Garda vetting and coaching courses, particularly for those working with children.
People taking on voluntary roles now have to be willing not only to give their time, he said, but also to complete the processes and procedures associated with the role.
For Roscommon Tidy Towns Chairperson Kathleen Shanagher, meanwhile, one answer to the volunteering question is to make clear that getting involved does not necessarily mean signing up to a major weekly commitment.
Many of the group’s members have been involved for more than 20 years. Others have joined for several years before moving on, while new people continue to come along.
Kathleen said the group would always welcome more members, but deliberately tries to keep volunteering informal and flexible. “There’s no pressure on anybody to be out,” she said. When the group meets, a message is simply sent out to members and whoever is available comes along.
For Kathleen, the rewards go well beyond litter-picking or planting flowers. Volunteers get exercise and fresh air, meet other people and can see a visible result from the time they have given, while the wider town benefits from painting, planting and other improvement projects.
Kathleen believes volunteering itself needs to be understood much more broadly. Someone who cannot commit to joining a committee could volunteer at a single event. Someone unable to attend every Tidy Towns evening could come when they are available or simply take responsibility for looking after their own area.
“You don’t really have to be on the committee if you don’t want to,” she said. “Give your time at the events when you’re required, and that’d be great.”
The county does not appear to be short of community spirit. The figures — and the sheer number of clubs, shows, festivals and community organisations operating here — make that clear.
The challenge may instead be ensuring that volunteering can fit around increasingly busy lives, giving people manageable ways to get involved while also identifying those willing to gradually take on greater responsibility.
The knowledge accumulated by someone who has organised an agricultural show, coached generations of young players or worked on a community committee for 20 or 30 years cannot simply be replaced overnight.
As Kathleen puts it, the first step for a potential volunteer can be very simple: “Find your tribe,” she said. “You’re giving of your time freely and you enjoy it.”
For the organisations that depend on that time, encouraging people to take that first small step may be the best way of making sure there is eventually someone ready to take the next one.
