Irish Examiner view: South Kerry taskforce on population decline is a welcome initiative

Taskforce could become a template for all of rural Ireland, addressing a problem affecting communities up and down the country

The report in the 'Irish Examiner' highlighted how some GAA clubs in Kerry's Iveragh Peninsula struggle to field team — a challenge that is being experienced everywhere from Inishowen in Donegal to Beara in Cork. Stock picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The establishment of a taskforce on the Iveragh Peninsula, South Kerry, to tackle population decline could become a welcome template for rural Ireland as a whole, attempting to arrest an invidious problem decimating communities up and down the country.

But the South Kerry case is interesting because it is a snapshot of what’s going on elsewhere. There are genuine fears that it may already be too late to reverse the decline in population across the peninsula.