Scottish Rural Communities Policy Review: stage 2 - Ireland case study

6. National Infrastructure and Institutions Relating to Rural Development

Responsibility for the overall vision and policy framework sits with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. Their mission is "To promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland." The department consists of three divisions, the Rural Development and Regional Affairs Division, the Community Development Division, and the Corporate Affairs and Strategic Development Division. The rural development division’s key instrument to deliver long term sustainable social and economic progress for rural Ireland is Our Rural Future. Efforts to deliver take a coordinated cross-government approach. The Community Development division is responsible for urban as well as rural settings, and the Corporate Affairs and Strategic Development Division works on the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht’s overall objectives of both rural and community development (Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, 2025g).

Key national organisations in Ireland include the Irish Rural Link and the Irish Local Development Network. The Irish Local Development Network Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) is the umbrella body for local development companies. Their catchment goes beyond the rural setting, providing their members with a range of functional support. It offers person-centred services including: Social Inclusion, Personal Development and Well-Being, Early Years and Family Support, Education & Training, Employment Services, Enterprise and Social Enterprise Development, Urban and Rural Development, and Climate Change and Just Transition (Irish Local Development Network, 2019). Irish Rural Link has an explicitly rural focus and, through its representation of rural areas in key policy negotiations, holds an integral role in lobbying for these areas (Glass, Atterton and Shucksmith, 2022). Their overall aim is to support communities in rural Ireland and drive forward the rural agenda (Irish Rural Link, no date). More recently, Irish Rural Link is leading a consortium of ERINN Innovation (Research) & Munster Technological University to deliver on Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) for the period 2023-2027.^[9] This network is called the CAP Ireland Network, contracted by Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to assist in the implementation of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. The purpose of this network is to support networking, sharing information and innovation in sustainable agriculture and rural development.

These national networks (in addition to international networks) are of integral value to the Republic of Ireland due to the country’s rural landscape and population dispersal. Udaras na Gaeltachta was established in 1980 and is a regional authority with responsibility for the economic, social and cultural development of the Gaeltacht areas including six populated offshore islands. Its objective is to ensure that Irish remains the shared language of these rural regions and supports job creation, economic development, social and cultural community development.