Rural Ireland not served well by unfounded claims on 'balanced regional development'

Balanced regional development – the Late, Late Show of regional planning with something for everyone in the audience – will ultimately fail Rural Ireland, argue Dr Brian Hughes and Dr Lorcan Sirr.

More than that 'balanced regional development' will never work in Ireland for plenty of proven reasons and politicians, especially rural ones, and planners know this.

Yet some still persist, trying once more to delude their constituents, articulating this wasteful practice as if it was a viable solution to the problems of rural Ireland.