Group calls to make ending rural exclusion a budget priority

RURAL exclusion needs to be a budget priority, according to Irish Rural Link (IRL).

IRL chief executive Seamus Boland said the at-risk-of-poverty rate is significantly higher in rural Ireland than in urban areas.

Rural areas have been more dependent on construction and manufacturing employment than urban areas in recent years.

Both these sectors are under significant pressure at the moment, he said.

Mr Boland said there is, therefore, a need for some fresh thinking on developing more dynamic regional employment markets and on protecting the vulnerable in rural areas.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan needs to reaffirm the Government’s commitment to the National Spatial Strategy and to the principle of balanced regional development enshrined in the National Development Plan.

“By cutting funding for regionally important infrastructural projects which are key to the future of our regions, the minister will run the risk of heightening regional unemployment and poverty imbalances and of reducing the potential future development of our regions,” he said.

Mr Boland said a worrying issue for rural communities in recent years has been the slow decline in local services, such as shops, post offices and pubs.

“In many European countries this problem has been tackled by rural communities themselves taking on and running these services.

“We asked the minister to consider funding a small pilot programme which would allow some rural communities to begin to run some of these services. Such a pilot would cost about €500,000,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s spokesman on Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Michael Ring said the LEADER programme should be introduced without further delay to help boost rural communities suffering from recent job losses.

He said Minister Éamon Ó Cuív has suggested that it will take at least another month to get to a stage where LEADER groups can apply for funding under the rural development programme.

“It is not clear how long it will be before groups will actually be awarded funding and will be up and running,” he said.