Sixteen areas which have seen the most severe population decline over the past 75 years are to be targeted in a £20 million Government programme to revitalise rural areas.
Fifteen areas selected have seen an average population decline of 50 per cent in that time, and in Co Leitrim it has been 60 per cent.
The Cooley peninsula has also been included in the scheme because of the problems caused by foot-and-mouth disease. Most of the other areas are located along the western seaboard and in the north midlands.
The programme, entitled Clar (Ceantair Laga Ard-Riachtanais) was unveiled yesterday in Strokestown, Co Roscommon by Minister of State, Mr Eamon ╙ Cu∅v, who described the figures as "frightening".
He said "the extraordinary thing" was that these rural areas were still experiencing population decline. Young people were migrating to towns and cities rather than emigrating but the devastation for "culturally rich communities" remained the same.
Mr ╙ Cu∅v said his aim was to end the "vicious circle" of services being withdrawn as populations decline, which in turn causes more people to leave.
"This very lack of population should be a priority reason for getting investment rather than a reason for not getting it," Mr ╙ Cu∅v said.
Existing structures will be used and the aim is to speed up National Development Plan spending in these areas. Mr ╙ Cu∅v said the £20 million budget would be used "to lever more money out to encourage priority is given to these areas".
Asked how the scheme would work, he said discussions would be held with local organisations such as county development boards, leader groups and community councils as well as State agencies to draw up priorities. He expected these talks to end by December and the "action phase" would begin early next year.
He would then liaise with relevant Government departments or bodies such as local authorities "to start getting priorities changed". In cases where the problem could not be solved by "reprioritisation", he would use the £20 million fund.
Mr ╙ Cu∅v said he was "not innocent enough" to believe £20 million spent over 16 areas would solve "the problems we are grappling with". He said the emphasis would be on infrastructure, physical and social.
As an example of how Clar would work, he said if a broadband telecommunications cable was to run within three miles of a village, he would go to the Department of Public Enterprise and arrange to have it extended.
He accepted that privatisation was "a major problem" in getting infrastructure into less-populated areas. "What I have to make sure happens is that the most rural areas that are the least likely to get a full range of modern services, get them at the same time as other areas."
He would discuss these issues with the Department of Public Enterprise and it was "a question of moulding our objective to the circumstances of the day".