The Socio-economic Sustainability of Rural Areas in Ireland

Over the period 1971 to 1996 District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) with the highest rate of decline in population and employment tended to be most widespread in western and north-western counties.In these DEDs average population declined by 19 per cent and average employment by 24 per cent.• Average population increased by 65 per cent and employment increased by 77 per cent in DEDs close to large urban centres.Approximately 90 per cent of the increase in both population and employment occurred in these areas.• Leitrim (73 per cent) and Cavan ( 67 per cent) had the highest proportion of District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) that lost both population and employment in the 1971-1996 period.The counties of Kildare (7 per cent) and Wexford (11 per cent) had the lowest proportion of DEDs losing both population and employment.• Approximately half of DEDs in the Objective 1 region (west, midlands and border region) lost both population and employment in the 1971-96 period.• In the most recent five year inter-census period (1991-96), while population declined in 60 per cent of DEDs, only 20 per cent of DEDs lost employment.However, 100 per cent of population growth and 90 per cent of employment growth occurred in peri-urban areas in the 1991-96 period.• Areas with the most serious history of decline were classified into: (a) Farm Dependent situated in all areas of the country but remote from urban areas, (b) Low Density populated areas situated mainly in inland areas of the west and north-west, and (c) Peripheral areas situated mainly in the coastal regions of the west and north-west.• Optimum use of resources (principally land and labour) in areas with a history of long term decline could result in increases in gross revenue of 25 to 45 per cent.The principal changes in resource use involve increases in off farm employment opportunities, participation by farmers in extensification and REPS programmes and the reallocation of land classified as rough grazing to forestry.• The challenge facing the various agencies involved in rural development is to ensure that development is widely spread to areas that have formerly suffered considerable decline.