Rural decline: Government action badly needed

Residents of a small village in Cavan have started a campaign calling on families in urban areas to move there. That may appear to many city dwellers to be nothing more than a charming céad míle fáilte to newcomers. In fact, it is far more important insofar as it reveals the growing desperation of rural communities who are fighting for their very survival as they suffer an apparently unstoppable population decline.
The village of Bawnboy, with a population of around 300, has put out a call for families to relocate there, in the hope of expanding its community and preventing the school from losing a teacher due to declining numbers.