Can rural Ireland survive the Covid-19 fallout?

Before pandemic supports evaporate, we need radical new policies including the creation of remote working hubs

We need more of the innovative thinking that recently created St Declan’s Way pilgrim path, the Suir Blueway (pictured above), the National Famine Way, and the new biking trails in the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

All our lives were upended by the lockdown, but some more profoundly than others. Many were lucky to be almost untouched from an economic point of view, while others had their livelihoods extinguished. Some urban dwellers escaped almost unscathed while many suffered grievously — but it was those in rural areas who were most vulnerable to disadvantage and loss.

Here people were most likely to suffer isolation and loneliness, particularly on the long 15-hour nights of last winter in places where there was no pavement or street lights to facilitate even an evening stroll. Similarly, the mostly small, standalone pubs and shops dependent on local trade were more vulnerable to economic shocks than their better-integrated and busier urban counterparts.