RURAL AREAS are facing a “brain drain” because of the recession, the Irish Rural Link conference in Killala has been told.
The problem may be especially bad in the west, where 16,400 construction jobs have been lost in the last two years, according to Pauline White, policy analyst with the Western Development Commission.
She said yesterday that men in rural areas were hardest hit by the decline, as one in four in the seven-county region worked in the sector. Construction had absorbed job losses from agriculture and manufacturing during the boom, reversed emigration and spin-off jobs were created in rural areas.
Net migration was now returning and, as one in five of the unemployed was under 25, they were most likely to emigrate. This, with long-term unemployment, would undermine the capacity for recovery.
Ms White called for a training and reskilling programme for young unemployed men in rural areas, a programme to identify priority growth areas and a national economic strategy to encourage growth in smaller centres and rural areas.
The conference, Valuing Community in the Battle Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, was told by Independent MEP Marian Harkin that millions were being spent by the Government on rescuing the banks but there was no help for the homeowner, small business or small farmer.
“Not enough money or thought is being put into supporting rural areas either by the Government or the European Union,” she told the conference in Killala Community Centre.
Earlier, IRL chief executive Séamus Boland had clashed with Dara Calleary, Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, on the new agri-environmental scheme brought in to replace the Rural Environment Protection Scheme.
Mr Boland said everyone knew the scheme was an income subsidy for smaller farmers who needed it.
The new scheme would only deliver €2,000 to these smaller farmers, who now had to submit invoices for work done after which they would have to wait a year for payment.
“Only farmers who can afford to do this work will now get involved and this will be very bad for the environment . . . I know consumers, who value the quality of food but also the protection of flora and fauna, will not want this to happen,” he said.
Mr Calleary disagreed with Mr Boland as it was his view that the new agri-environmental scheme was a well-focused one which would protect the environment.
OFFSETTING ISOLATION: TRANSPORT TASKFORCE URGED
EFFORTS BEING put into fighting lower drink-driving limits by rural communities would be better spent coming up with real solutions to keeping rural pubs open, the head of Irish Rural Link, (IRL), Séamus Boland, has said.
Mr Boland said pubs had a major role in offsetting isolation often experienced by people in more rural areas.
“Pubs are a social space for meetings and gatherings in areas that often do not have other community facilities. Over 50 pubs have closed in Mayo alone over the last three years, and this is 50 communities losing a meeting place.
“The demise of pubs in rural areas can have a serious impact on people’s mental health. However, higher drink-driving limits will not save a single pub from closure, and will not free people from the scourge of rural isolation,” he continued.
“We require a rural transport taskforce to come together and solve our rural transport deficit once and for all. Opportunities for publicans and communities to come together and offer transport in rural areas must be explored.”
Providing transport for use by the whole community would do more for pubs and other services than anything else, he told the annual conference of IRL in Killala, Co Mayo.
Road Safety Authority chief executive Noel Brett supported this view and said rural communities should take control of managing issues such as poor stretches of road, overhanging vegetation and dykes, and work with the authorities to rectify them.
SEÁN Mac CONNELL