Time to get serious about regional development

The continuing trend of out-of-town shopping, changes in consumer behaviour, the inadequacy of rural broadband, lack of foreign direct investment firms and other factors are brewing up a perfect storm under which rural Ireland will suffer irreversible decline. Some of these factors were brought into focus in a report published last week by the Society of Chartered Surveyors on ‘Rejuvenating Ireland’s Small Town Centres’. Combine those concerns with a government which is far ...