1. The Future of Rural Areas ?
What will the Global Services landscape look
like in 2031,what will it mean for Ballyhoura and
where are the opportunities for investors,
businesses, farmers, individuals and
communities across the Ballyhoura
Development area?

2. Paradigm Shift
• “Traditional policies to subsidise farming have not been
able to harness the potential of these economic engines.
(OECD)
• Promoting rural development, poses policy challenges
that requires co-ordination across sectors, levels of
government, and between public and private actors.
• Countries are considering a paradigm shift in their
approaches to accommodate such important challenges.
• The most defining characteristics of this shift are a focus
on places rather than sectors and an emphasis on
investments rather than subsidies.”

3. “We are where we are”
• Rural development thinking
• Dependency on subsidies
• Role of Partnerships
• Current economic situation
• Resilience

4. Rural Economic Activities
• Food
• Services
• Farming
• Tourism
• Manufacturing
• Information Technology

5. Food
• Food is worth €20bn of our GNP and €8bn
of total exports.
• All monies stay in Ireland
• Ballyhoura and other Leader companies
have lead the way
• The Leader Tent at the ploughing is an
example

6. Services
• Transport
• Access to a range of Health services.
• Access to training and to further education
• Accesses to local services i.e. post office, local banking,
fire stations.
• Water - The collection of waste - Child care - after
school activity
• Youth provision.
• Rural security - rural policing - Community alert.
• Financial services
• Environmental services – fuel – water – landscape
protection

7. Service Threats
• Post Offices
• Transport
• Non-specialised health care
• Technology
• Cost of everything
• Services to the local economy

8. Carnegie Findings
• Growing the capacity of people, agencies
and professionals who support rural
communities;
• Enhancing community assets of all kinds
• Community-led planning
• An enhanced role and community groups
• Centre for Excellence supporting rural
community development policy and
practice on the ground.

9. Carnegie Report

10. Scenarios
• Current crisis
• Global Context
• Energy/Environment
• Economic Drivers
• Social Services
• Community capacity

11. Future Ireland Findings
• New forms of cross-fertilisation between the
economy, society and public governance.
• Innovation and learning are systematic and
should confront challenges at three levels—
institutional, inter-personal and personal;
• Systematic review.
• Innovation and learning cannot flourish, without
profound change to our organisational systems,
particularly our systems of control and
accountability

12. Reflections
• Ballyhoura region will be influenced by the current
recession. All economists agree that the effects of
decision making buy government will still be felt in 2030.
• it is likely that systems of delivery will always be devised
on the basis of cost.
• Services that are not commercially viable will require the
assistance of the state, through its various agencies and
also will depend on the capacity of voluntary
organisations.
• The innate advantages of Ballyhoura in terms of its
capacity to develop its agriculture and food sector is
essential. Its nearness to Limerick is a positive.
• Community planning coupled with a continuous
programme of community skills training is essential.

13. Reflections
• Future re-organisation of local, regional administration
will influence investment in the region
• Ballyhoura as a potential catalyst can initiate strategic
partnerships that are recognised by national and
international agencies.
• Opportunities to develop non agricultural and food
activities will be broadly complimented by the overall
performance of food and agriculture.
• A concerted plan that develops new and innovative up-
skilling and re-training will enhance the region’s ability to
attract investment.
• Environmental themes will need to permeate all regional
plans, so that the region will be competitive