Winter is well and truly here, and while we revel in the festive spirit and cozy nights in front of the fire, we must be cautious of things more sinister.

Shane Ross’s proposals for graduated speeding penalties is "yet another" attack on rural Ireland, Danny Healy-Rae has said.

Three quarters of farmers and farm families believe drug use is now widespread in rural communities.

Farmers think the lack of social housing does not concern them, but accommodation shortages and rent hikes are not confined to cities and towns, says Anne-Marie O’Reilly.

Proposals to award grant-aid to hackneys that operate in rural areas have been described by members of the Oireachtas Transport committee as an effort to make amends for unpopular driving laws that have come too late for country areas.

An average of just five people per journey have been using a new bus service introduced for people living in rural areas.

Locals in towns and villages across the country could soon be allowed to act as taxi drivers to plug a public transport gap.

A new study has found that in areas badly affected by flooding, commuters can face extra costs amounting to almost 39% of their daily earnings during the period of disruption, with those on lower incomes suffer proportionately greater losses.

The Government is being accused of not doing enough for the people of rural Ireland.

It has been revealed that just one in seven homes in rural Ireland that have been offered high-speed broadband by Eir have taken it up.

Grant supports of €20 million in 2018 for rural water services have been announced by Eoghan Murphy, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government.

Rose Martin looks at the environmental side-effects of the new Heritage Bill, Japanese knotweed’s unfair portrayal, and the regeneration of rural towns.

Proposals have been invited for a government scheme to revive rural areas with funding of €1bn from 2019 to 2027.

Tyrone GAA has called for an end to a funding imbalance between urban centres and rural areas.

Last weekend, my wife and I spent a few days tootling around Clare and Tipperary.

Pubs in rural areas have to turn over at least €8,000 per week or they may not survive, according to a new report.

Convincing international investors to consider locations outside of Dublin and other large urban areas remains a challenge, the IDA has admitted.

Government TDs in rural constituencies are set to hit out at the €100bn 10-year capital plan and planning framework today, amid concerns their own areas are being ignored for new projects.

Like all the best Irish antiquarian sites, there’s very little brouhaha about it on the road, writes Colm O’Regan.

A late night rural bus service is being planned for 15 counties.

All the international research tells us that the social world order is rapidly changing under our noses from a social welfare state to a social investment state. 

The real battleground for the next election is rural Ireland, and that’s power, writes Gerard Howlin.

The issue of rural crime is to be debated in the Dáil today, with Fianna Fáil calling for tighter bail laws to tackle the issue.

The IFA is seeking more gardaí and patrol cars in rural Ireland in the wake of a weekend attack.

Eugene McCabe’s 1964 tales of a rich farmer who encourages a neighbour to impregnate his wife was well ahead of its time, writes Alan O’Riordan.

Rural communities are to receive extra funding for CCTV and text alert schemes to help tackle the scourge of crime.

Kerry football legend Pat Spillane has ‘red-carded’ the Mackinnon recommendations for a major boundary extension of Cork City, but said the county council will have to cede more territory than it’s currently offering.

Blackberry season is one of the few times of year when it’s clear that you can’t banish nature from the city, even though we try, writes Clodagh Finn.

Fighting rural migration and worrying levels of unemployment in towns and villages around the country must be a priority, newly promoted Rural Affairs Minister Michael Ring has been told.

The recent release of new economic growth measures has again prompted a debate on regional — from which we can generally read urban versus rural — development in Ireland.

Muintir na Tíre is planning to organise meetings in small towns and villages in Co Cork to outline its fears that rural communities will suffer if the Mackinnon report is implemented.

New Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has raised rural hopes with the formation of a new Department of Community and Rural Affairs, to be headed up by Mayo TD Michael Ring as a senior Minister.

The Government has announced a €20m fund under its Action Plan for Rural Development aimed at supporting “measures which have a clear economic impact on rural towns and villages”.

SPECULATIVE reports that in the region of 80 rural post offices are earmarked for closure have been resoundedly refuted by An Post which says it is conducting a review of the network.

The Seanad has heard calls for the government to pave the way for driverless cars, in order to help rural pubs.

If you lounge around small village communities in the greater Dublin and London areas you can get a sense of how a new generation of urbanisation is at work.