10 June 1999 Edition
Rural development a priority
Sinn Féin EU candidates Seán MacManus and Martin Ferris, standing in Connacht/Ulster and Munster, respectively, have been highlighting the urgent need for rural development. 10
Across Ireland, rural communities are disappearing. It is a cumulative process; communities are leaving the land and rural areas, moving to cities and urban centres because their holdings are deemed uncommercial and employment opportunities are limited. Depopulation by migration to urban centres and cities by people who are leaving farms and villages in rural Ireland is threatening the viability of local business, industry, schools
and farming.
This process has been repeated year in year out throughout the 1990s. For example, between 1986 and 1991, population levels declined in 23 out of 34 county boroughs and counties in the 26 Counties.
At the same time, as the migration of families and resources from rural areas continues, a second problem emerges - that of the entrenched rural poverty of those who stay on the land trying to work their holdings. A Combat Poverty Agency Study in 1996 showed that of the then 159,000 farms in the 26-County state, only 50,000 were economically viable. Of the 109,000 farms deemed not economically viable, 80,000 had no other sources of income.
Throughout Ireland, farmers are subsisting on low incomes and enduring inequalities in the distribution of CAP funding.
The CAP in its present form is rewarding big farmers and actively driving small holders off the land. Teagasc, the Agricultural and Food Development Authority, estimates that on average 5,000 people left farming every year in the 1990s.
The Dublin government's strategy on rural development is based on using the EU LEADER Programme together with a range of individual community initiatives such as the Western Development Commission and the pilot programme for Public Service Delivery. Elements of the Anti Poverty Strategy are being geared towards tackling poverty in rural communities.
There is a promise of a white paper on rural development but it has not been published yet and as of now there is no co-ordinated strategy on rural development in the 26 Counties.
MacManus and Ferris have called for the formulation of a strategy on rural development, built up and developed by the communities directly affected by rural underdevelopment. ``The core objective of this strategy,'' says MacManus, ``should
be to break the cumulative cycle that starts with population reduction, leading to a reduced demand for services, which leads to reduced employment opportunities and ultimately migration out of rural areas.''
According to Martin Ferris, central government in the 26 Counties should be prevailed upon to hold a national conference to formulate a strategy to promote rural development in Ireland. ``Such a conference would have to be organised on a bottom-up participatory basis and not be solely representative of the vested interests that dominate agribusiness and rural policies today.''
Across Ireland, rural communities are disappearing. It is a cumulative process; communities are leaving the land and rural areas, moving to cities and urban centres because their holdings are deemed uncommercial and employment opportunities are limited. Depopulation by migration to urban centres and cities by people who are leaving farms and villages in rural Ireland is threatening the viability of local business, industry, schools
and farming.
This process has been repeated year in year out throughout the 1990s. For example, between 1986 and 1991, population levels declined in 23 out of 34 county boroughs and counties in the 26 Counties.
At the same time, as the migration of families and resources from rural areas continues, a second problem emerges - that of the entrenched rural poverty of those who stay on the land trying to work their holdings. A Combat Poverty Agency Study in 1996 showed that of the then 159,000 farms in the 26-County state, only 50,000 were economically viable. Of the 109,000 farms deemed not economically viable, 80,000 had no other sources of income.
Throughout Ireland, farmers are subsisting on low incomes and enduring inequalities in the distribution of CAP funding.
The CAP in its present form is rewarding big farmers and actively driving small holders off the land. Teagasc, the Agricultural and Food Development Authority, estimates that on average 5,000 people left farming every year in the 1990s.
The Dublin government's strategy on rural development is based on using the EU LEADER Programme together with a range of individual community initiatives such as the Western Development Commission and the pilot programme for Public Service Delivery. Elements of the Anti Poverty Strategy are being geared towards tackling poverty in rural communities.
There is a promise of a white paper on rural development but it has not been published yet and as of now there is no co-ordinated strategy on rural development in the 26 Counties.
MacManus and Ferris have called for the formulation of a strategy on rural development, built up and developed by the communities directly affected by rural underdevelopment. ``The core objective of this strategy,'' says MacManus, ``should
be to break the cumulative cycle that starts with population reduction, leading to a reduced demand for services, which leads to reduced employment opportunities and ultimately migration out of rural areas.''
According to Martin Ferris, central government in the 26 Counties should be prevailed upon to hold a national conference to formulate a strategy to promote rural development in Ireland. ``Such a conference would have to be organised on a bottom-up participatory basis and not be solely representative of the vested interests that dominate agribusiness and rural policies today.''