Presentation by Brian Harvey, Independent Social Researcher, Ireland. 9th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance (Dublin-Kilkenny, Ireland), 26/27 March 2013. http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/9thfplgmeeting.htm

1. 9th Annual Meeting
IMPLEMENTING CHANGE:
A NEW LOCAL AGENDA FOR
JOBS AND GROWTH
In co-operation with the EU Presidency, Irish Government and Pobal
26-27 March 2013, Dublin-Kilkenny, Ireland
WORKSHOP C: EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSION IN RURAL AREAS
Brian Harvey
Independent Social Researcher, Ireland

2. Brian Harvey and Kathy Walsh
OECD conference, UCD, Dublin
Workshop C, 1300 to 1500, 26th March 2013
brharvey@iol.ie kwresearch@eircom.net

3.  Capture recent (esp. 2008+) trends in
employment, social inclusion in rural areas
 Fill a gap in analysis of triangle of:
Rural development
Employment
Social inclusion
 Look at examples outside Ireland
 Make recommendations
 Here, statistical analysis first; then issues,
findings, problems, solutions, recommendations

4. 1987 1994 2000
 Open country 21.5% 19.6% 32.4%
 Village/town 25.2% 26.4% 36.3%
<3,000
 Town 3,000+ 14.2% 19.2% 25.2%
 Major cities 18% 18.4% 31.3%
 Dublin 8.7% 15.1% 17.1%
Combat Poverty Agency

5.  2009 2010 2011 +-
 National 14.1% 14.7% 16% +13%
 Urban 11.8% 12.5% 14.2% +20%
 Rural 17.8% 18.1% 18.8% +5.6%
EU SILC, 2013
Rural poverty is higher
But urban poverty is increasing faster

6. Consistent poverty rate
 2009 2010 2011 +-
 Urban 5% 6.6% 6.9% +36%
 Rural 6.2% 5.9% 7.1% +14.5%
Deprivation rate
2009 2010 2011 +-
 Urban 18.7% 22.9% 26.2% +40%
 Rural 14.9% 22.2% 21.8% +46%
 EU SILC, 2013
A complex picture, so what’s going on…?

7.  We divided country into:
◦ Urban, 5,000+
◦ 3,000 to 5,000 (towns or peri-urban)
◦ Rural (<3,000) to refine the analysis
 And these are the outcomes…

8. 5,000+ 3-5,000 <3,000
 Border 26% 28% 21%
 Midland 27% 29% 19%
 West 20% 16% 18%
 Dublin 17% 17% 15%
 Mid-East 18% 18% 18%
 Mid-West 25% 0% 17%
 South East 25% 26% 19%
 South West 19% 19% 15%
 Rural unemployment lowest, 3-5,000 highest

9. Less Same More
Deprivation Deprivation
 5,000+ 21% 62% 17%
 3,000 to 5,000 12% 62% 25%
 <3,000 14% 66% 20%
 Towns 3,000 – 5,000 are focus of problem
 ‘Towns are dying on their feet’
 But we lack explanations (LA tenants? Closures
public services, shops, where jobs are?)

10.  Need for more refined definition of rural
 Irish rural policy is out of date
◦ Enhancing our future, 1999
◦ Rural initiatives (RSS, RTP) – but not same as a policy
 Need for a statement of basis for rural policy
◦ E.g. Future of rural society (Commission, 1988)
◦ Equivalence principle
 Absence of rural proofing
◦ Many key national policy documents have no rural sections or
only passing mention
◦ Look at Action plan for jobs, National Skills Strategy, Enterprise
Strategy, ministerial briefings 2011
◦ ‘Rural’ has slipped down policy hierarchy

11.  Positively, convergence about what should be done
◦ Between Ireland and Europe
◦ Between NGOs and government
 Main elements
◦ Investment in infrastructure, public services
◦ Green jobs (agrifood, farmer markets, social farming,
organic etc), low carbon economy (biofuels, wind, wave)
◦ Targeted assistance for SMEs, micro-enterprise, social
enterprise
◦ Upskilling right through to upper age range
◦ Rural, heritage, eco-tourism

12.  Ireland lags behind Europe in key areas
◦ E.g. organics, biomass, nature protection, renewables
◦ Example inappropriately applied e.g. wind
◦ Missed opportunities e.g. heritage tourism, wave,
Groundwork type improvements
 Activation does not match scale of problem
◦ Not adapted to rural situation
◦ Does not address transport, childcare, progression
◦ Need to re-direct resources from control
 Role of the state
◦ Criticized as extreme laissez faire
◦ State agencies traditionally played important role e.g.
ACC, ESB, NET, BNM, CSE: can do so again

13.  Lack of apprenticeship development cf. successful
European economies (only 1,400 places)
 Small size of social economy (0.68% cf 6% EU)
 Need to re-set social inclusion policy
◦ In rural context
◦ In post-2008 context
 Need to re-affirm role of community development
◦ It was a major driver in improvement in rural Ireland
post 1980s
◦ Since then, CDP gone, LCDP down -42%, alignment
process. Consequences if you cut out a main driver.
 Need for broader community of policy, practice

14. ◦ Rural vision, policy direction
◦ Successful application of policy – proofing
 Rural policy implementation group, incl. NGOs
◦ Fall application of European menu
◦ Community of policy, practice
◦ Adapt activation to rural environment
◦ Apprenticeships, social economy
◦ Rebalance state support for rural enterprise
◦ Revise NAPSIncl in light of rural, post-2008
◦ Re-affirm value of community development
 Operation of CLLD as a global grant 2013-2020