The Government must address deficiencies in the quality of life for people in rural areas to make the countryside an attractive place to live, Minister of State Noel Ahern said today.
The Minister of State for the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs told a conference on quality of life that the challenge was to provide for an "increasingly vibrant and evolving rural society".
"I think we can agree that Irish society in recent years has undergone a very radical cultural and economic transformation since we entered the Common Market," Mr Ahern told the seminar.
He said there was now a big challenge facing Ireland to ensure rural areas did not become depopulated or devoid of sustainable economic opportunity.
"We must ensure there are sufficient economic and employment opportunities to sustain rural communities," he said. Mr Ahern said health and leisure amenities, as well as infrastructure projects and sufficient housing, must be provided to make life in rural areas attractive.
"Rural Ireland must be seen as a place where people can live well and raise their families, where they are guaranteed a good quality of life. It's one thing visiting an area, it's another thing being part of it," he said.
The Minister was speaking at a conference to publish a report on quality of life in the areas of west Cork, Waterford and Cavan and Monaghan, In the study, a number of categories including health, technology, population, crime, income and housing were examined to measure how well people were living in those areas.
All four areas were found to be below the national average of disposable income per capita, have a higher percentage of over 65s living alone, but have a lower percentage of lone parents with children under 15 than the national average.
"The key objective must be to achieve more balanced regional economic and social development in order to prevent rural areas becoming depressed and denuded of young people and economic activity," he said.