Rural group launches plan

RURAL areas which have older populations and a less skilled workforce are more dependent on declining industrial sectors and find it harder to attract inward investment, it was claimed yesterday.

Irish Rural Link (IRL) chief executive Seamus Boland the national group campaigning for sustainable rural communities, said, however, that the idea of a policy to specifically address rural and regional issues as opposed to agricultural issues is relatively new.

“Ireland is still coming to terms with this challenge,” he claimed at the launch in Dublin of a three-year IRL strategic plan, which states that access to services is the key to creating vibrant, inclusive and sustainable rural Irish communities.