Mayo and the big rural issues in urgent need of addressing
Rural Ireland has matured over the past few years.
Perhaps it has grown up, much like many of its sons and daughters, who left to pursue education and ambition but have returned to settle, that is, if planning permission or their parents’ spare room has been accommodating.
The OECD report on rural Ireland was illuminating, and we covered it in depth on this page earlier this year.
The government has, as expected, drawn on its findings in Our Rural Future 2026-2031, which succeeds the 2021-2025 policy and is a comprehensive outline of how the powers that be intend to develop and maintain our rural communities.
The policy, published by Minister Dara Calleary’s Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, sets out what is meant by ‘rural’, using the CSO’s six-way classification.
It distinguishes between rural areas with high urban influence, rural areas with moderate urban influence, and highly rural or remote areas. Mayo has the latter two in abundance.
Much like Mayo County Council’s pre-draft submission to the NWRA, there is a lot of grown-up talk.
Perhaps that is due in no small part to AbbVie in Westport, which the OECD report singled out as the best case study of foreign direct investment delivering rural jobs and it is right here in our own county.
Mayo, and rural Ireland as whole, is no longer solely seen as a destination for greenways and trails, but for adequate investment from top companies.
The COVID lockdown and remote working has given rise to working hubs and the potential to earn from a job in Boston, Sydney or Dubai while residing in the west has bucked the trend of those needing to leave for substantial employment.
Interestingly, across the report on rural Ireland, the word tourism appears over 70 times - the word agriculture, just 24 mentions.
The headline from the OECD analysis would not sit well with the doomsayers. It found that Ireland’s rural population growth is surpassed only by New Zealand among 14 comparable countries, with life expectancy and fertility also outperforming the benchmark.
Rural Ireland still has its struggles. We need only go back to April, when higher fuel prices created a storm of support for predominantly rural protesters that precipitated the growth in recent opinion polls in rural-priority parties like Independent Ireland and Aontú.
Difficulties exist, of course. Median disposable income in highly rural and remote areas is €40,839, against a national figure of €58,922, although rural areas with high urban influence sit above the national average at €62,446.
The at-risk-of-poverty rate in highly rural and remote areas is 15.3%, against 11.7% nationally. Rural population grew by 5.8% between 2016 and 2022, against 8.4% nationally.
All three rural categories grew, but the report acknowledges instances of decline in some remote and peripheral areas, which is a warning sign.
New money in the report is scant. The Rural Development Investment Programme (RDIP) is the umbrella for the RRDF, the Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS), LEADER, LIS, CLÁR and ORIS (the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme), with more than €1 billion allocated since 2020.
The report largely presents that historical spending. What is new is the commitment of €500 million in capital funding under the RDIP for 2026-28.
Within the document, as among many community groups and local development companies, there is an unerring lack of confidence about the future of LEADER funding. Ongoing CAP negotiations have fuelled significant fear for European funding that has been a cornerstone of rural communities for decades.
The report expresses strong support for LEADER, commits to seeking increased funding for it after 2027, and heralds its role in supporting local groups around Ireland since its inception.
The coming months will bring greater clarity, but jobs in community development are on the line and anxieties are understandably running high as the European Union looks to return agriculture and rural development to national competency, rather than funding it from the Brussels pot.
Housing in rural Ireland, as elsewhere, remains the most pressing concern, as Councillor Gerry Coyle regularly outlines at Westport-Belmullet Municipal District meetings.
The most informative item in the report is the draft Sustainable Rural and Gaeltacht Housing National Planning Statement, which is set to prioritise teachers, nurses and rural business owners when it comes to rural planning.
That statement is due to be finalised by the end of the year, with no local connection required in villages of fewer than 1,500 people. Restrictions on one-off rural homes are also set to loosen, though rural clusters remain the preferred model.
Money for infrastructure will be needed. Just as cities receive major funding for services through ESB, EirGrid and Uisce Éireann, smaller towns and villages will need investment to ensure housing development can continue.
The report also highlights the Local Democracy Taskforce Implementation Plan, under which municipal councils will replace municipal districts.
They are due to be in place following the 2029 local elections, subject to legislation, with good news for towns in each area.
It is a piecemeal offering to the town council relics, but the report states that “municipal councils will have a specific focus on towns and will develop Town Priority Programmes.
New municipal council budgets will provide for town specific funding within overall budgets.”
As with many reports on the future of rural Ireland, the proof of the pudding will be seen when local government is adequately funded and resourced to fulfil its duties, up to the European average.
The shift towards substantial capital investment through schemes like the RRDF and TVRS is welcome, but the future of rural communities lies in those communities themselves, not solely in the grants and schemes central government opens to them.