Europe must take a "radical new approach" to rural development which acknowledges that total dependence on agriculture will no longer sustain rural populations, according to the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuív.
The Minister, who was addressing the National Rural Development Forum in Co Tipperary yesterday, said EU competition law must also be geared to ensure that the provision of essential services is not "prohibitively expensive" in rural areas.
And with forthcoming enlargement of the EU next May, it was "absolutely vital" that Ireland took a "pro-active part" in shaping the European agenda on rural development, the Minister said.
The Minister and delegates from three Government Departments are due to attend a European conference on this issue in Salzburg, Austria, next week. Referring to the continued haemorrhage in rural populations, Mr Ó Cuív said that it was time to "stop the decline", through formulating a much broader agenda at EU level.
The EU will have to recognise that rural areas must have "multi-dimensional development policies". He also said that clear spatial strategies must ensure continued maintenance and growth of rural populations, and funding must be targeted to bridge the infrastructural deficit.
Enterprise support mechanisms also need to ensure that rural areas can compete for enterprise development.
Also speaking at the forum, which took place in Cashel, Co Tipperary, the chief executive of the Disability Federation of Ireland, Mr John Dolan, said rural development must take into account the fact that over 8 per cent of the population has a disability or chronic illness.
If the promised Disability Bill is to be true to the rights-based approach, rural infrastructure must be developed to allow people to live in their own communities, he said.
Planners must also stop approving the construction of nursing homes for the elderly in isolated areas, and encourage such building within communities where there can be interaction between generations, Mr Dolan said.
"It defies common sense that planners should be thinking in this way, given the outcry over the break-up of rural communities," he said.