Warning by IFA on risk of rural decline

Rural areas had more possibilities and choices than before, but policy needed to guard in particular against "rural black spots", IFA chief economist Mr Con Lucey said yesterday. He was speaking at the second annual Irish Assembly of Regional Authorities in Ennis.

Delivering a paper on Rural Development Policy - Post-2000, Mr Lucey said rural black spots were the more remote areas where decline was already at a critical stage and could soon be irreversible in the midst of national prosperity.

Mr Lucey said that for many rural areas, agriculture would continue to be the main industry, but for maybe half of family farms, the farm income would need to be combined with a job or other off-farm income sources to provide an acceptable standard of living.

He added that rural development boiled down to making the rural economy and society attractive to young people.

"The first requirement is an income that is on a par with the rest of the economy, the second requirement is lifestyle through the provision of amenities, public services and social facilities."

Mr Nick O Murchu, principal officer with the Department of Finance, said a sound basis for future co-operation between central Government and the regional institutions has been established through the formulation of the forthcoming National Development Plan.

Mr O Murchu said there had been a widespread consensus on the content of the National Development Plan. He added that contributions to the process supported the position that the plan should be firmly based on policies conducive to a stable macroeconomic environment.

The consultation process had pointed to the need for the plan to establish as priorities the State's infrastructure deficit, especially in the transport area, and the need to promote social inclusion in a general sense.

Mr O Murchu said he believed that the plan when published would be seen as a positive response to the representations which the Government had received, adding that the task ahead would be to deliver the significant levels of investment in a way that met the developmental and social needs of the entire State.