Rural Action Plan: New answers needed for old problems

The Rural Action Plan, a “real strategy for real people”, launched by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Longford yesterday, will not make rural Ireland great again.

Just like America’s Rust Belt, the future for rural Ireland can’t be a new, shiny, the-jobs-are-back version of the past. Things have changed permanently and new solutions to old problems are needed.

The jobs section in the action plan has a budget of €50m, €1.92m for each county. That might build one or two small schools or paint a few community halls but not much more.