Income map reveals 'two-tier Ireland'

DISPOSABLE INCOME in the State’s southern and eastern “super region” continued to be higher than in the Border, Midlands and Western region in 2006 and 2007 – but the gap is narrowing, according to the latest official figures.

A bulletin released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday showed that Dublin had the highest disposable income per capita of the eight “regional areas”.

The southern and eastern super region, (devised for EU statistics) comprises five regional areas, Dublin, mid-east, midwest, southeast and southwest.

The Dublin regional area was 10.8 per cent above the State average in 2007. In contrast the midlands was 8.8 per cent below the State average that year and was the lowest of the eight regional areas.

On a county level, those with an average disposable income per capita in excess of the State average were Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and Meath.

At the lower end of the scale there were five counties with disposable incomes per capita below 90 per cent of the State average. These were Donegal, Mayo, Longford, Offaly and Kerry.

A further 11 counties had between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of the State average. These were Clare, north Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny, Carlow, Cavan, Leitrim, Roscommon, Westmeath, Wexford and Monaghan.

However the CSO warned against hard findings on a county level pointing out that data at this level should be regarded more as indicative rather then precise.

The CSO also revealed that the gap between the State’s two super regions was narrowing.

According to the figures, the disposable income per capita in 2007 of the southern and eastern region was 2.7 per cent above the State average, while the corresponding figure for the Border, Midland and Western region was 7.5 per cent below the average.

The gap of 10.2 points between the two regions has decreased from the gap that existed in 2006 (10.9 points) and in 2005 (11.6 points).

However Irish Rural Link (IRL) – the national network campaigning for sustainable rural communities – immediately criticised what it said was “a two-tier Ireland with significant differences in income between urban and more rural counties”, which, it said, was evident from the figures.

According to IRL, the economic gap in the country was highlighted by the differences that exist in disposable income and gross value added (GVA) per capita.

IRL chief executive Séamus Boland said the figures showed spending on rural infrastructure and local services should not be cut. He said the bulletin highlighted the need for investment in infrastructure and training.