Rural Development

Balanced regional development is crucial to living standards not just in rural Ireland, or in towns and villages around the country. It would also contribute to improved living standards in cities, which already face significant infrastructural challenges in areas like housing, transport, and other service provision.

Unbalanced economic growth hinders Ireland’s overall potential for economic and social development and has an adverse effect on the overall standard of living in our society. There is a huge social cost to half-empty villages and towns around Ireland while Dublin and other cities are thriving to the point where people cannot find affordable places to live, or have to deal with long commutes in heavy traffic.

This must change, and the government’s National Development Plan must succeed in developing regional social and economic hubs, serving wider regions and creating employment in places that allow people to remain in or near their locality if they wish.

Social democracy is about more than poverty mitigation, labour rights, and more transparent politics – though it is very much about these things too. At its heart, social democracy is about better public services, and we all know that rural people, at present, cannot expect the same level of services as those living in cities and bigger towns.

Our Priorities on Rural and Regional Development

• Promote regional economic development by investing in capital projects that boost industrial and commercial capacity across the country
• Rebalance infrastructural spending to anticipate and create demand away from the larger cities, creating regional economic hubs
• Invest in the delivery of public services including health and social care
• Work to ensure the agriculture sector is both economically and socially sustainable, and that farmers receive a fair price for their produce
• Invest in Technological Universities so they can better support regional growth
• Work to ensure community-ownership of wind farms so that local communities can benefit from developments in their area

Find Out More

You can read more about our policies and plans in our Rural and Regional Development policy document, linked below.