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Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
Ghost Town
The most economically depressed town in Ireland is...
The results are in…Teagasc has ranked every town in Ireland.
10.41pm, 11 Apr 2014
204k
139
Updated 10.51pm
BUNCLODY IS OFFICIALLY the most economically depressed town in Ireland, a new report by Teagasc shows.
The County Wexford town, classified as Bunclody-Carrickduff in the report, is the worst performer out of 302 towns included.
Using an index based on unemployment rate and inward migration figures, the food and agriculture development agency ran the rule over all towns with a population of more than 1,500.
Bunclody was joined in the bottom five by Robertstown in Kildare, Rathkeale in County Limerick, Carrick-on-Suir in Tipperary and Abbeyfeale in Limerick.
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Sligo and Cork were the best performing counties, with Offaly and Carlow performing worst overall.
In one of the most complete portraits of rural Ireland ever compiled, huge variances in the fortunes of Ireland’s rural town-dwellers were uncovered, including:
There is a 40 percentage point difference in the levels of tertiary education between the strongest and weakest towns.
Weaker towns have more empty houses than the average.
Weaker towns are located on the edges of the commuter belts associated with cities
Teagasc cautioned that a one size fits all solution wouldn’t work when trying to address the myriad issues facing small towns.
Head of rural economy and development Cathal O’Donoghue said despite the fact that one third of the Irish population live in rural towns and their immediate hinterlands, they are often ignored at a strategic planning level.
“These rural towns have a lower focus in national development strategies over the past decade and a half.”
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@James Pelow: Very well said. They’re actually using it as a distraction. And it’s drawing us into something that has nothing to do with us. Brexit is the problem. End of story.
Let’s be clear… article 16 does not end the protocol. It can suspend a part of it for a short period of time. When the UK says it will trigger A16, call it out for what they want to do….they want to scrap it and force a border on the island of Ireland or a border between Ireland and EU. That’s their plan and I believe it’s been the plan all along. This mess has been made by the UK and the protocol is a plaster. The GB companies that send those goods that will never end up back in the EU (including ROI) need to be better catered for. The issue is that there is no trust between the UK and EU as, so far, the UK hasn’t implemented main parts of the protocol so all at risk goods must be considered guilty until proven innocent.
While I’ve no doubt it has caused some legitimate disruption for businesses heavily linked to GB, how did the study take into account costs (for consultancy etc) that would’ve been incurred without the procotol because they also trade with the EU?
Or how did it take into account all the paperwork NI businesses save because they can trade with the Republic and the rest of the EU freely?
All these analyses seem to assume that trade with Ireland was either insignificant, or its continuity was a a given (neither of these are true) and that any disruption with GB is a cost without any quantifiable benefit (again not true).
By leaving the CU and SM and going for a Sharia Brexit GB turned itself into a legal and regulatory Kaliningrad. Their call-their choice…If they hadn’t CHOSEN that there would be no protocol. They want a hard border in IRL or IRL out the the EU-they will get neither but what they will get is humiliation.
A call to action in St Patrick's Cathedral today hit home hard after scenes in the White House
Christina Finn
Reports from New York
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Tánaiste says Conor McGregor 'doesn't speak for Ireland' as MMA fighter arrives at White House
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