Rural households 'more costly'

Rural households require an extra €3,600 to €5,600 per year over their urban counterparts to maintain a basic standard of living, an advocacy group said today.

Presenting its pre-budget submission to the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan this afternoon, Irish Rural Link (IRL) warned the shortfall between rural and urban households will become “even more critical” if incomes are not protected.

Citing a recent study carried out in conjunction with the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, IRL’s chief executive Seamus Boland said rural households require an extra €65 to €120 per week to maintain a basic standard of living.

He said rural houses are at greater risk of fuel poverty due to the nature of the housing stock, types of fuel available and limited opportunities to switch to cheaper fuels such as gas.

“We made the point again about carbon tax about the fact that it is costlier in rural areas,” he said.

In its pre-budget submission, the group said while it fully accepts the gravity of the crisis facing the Government, "rural communities have borne a disproportionate weight of recent budgetary decisions, including community sector cutbacks and reduced regional investment”

Mr Boland also called for IRL and other groups in the sector to be included in the national partnership process.

“We are not part of the Croke Park deal, we are not part of the big macro stuff and yet we have to take all the cuts,” he said.

And he stressed the need for the Minister to look at measures to provide micro-finances to small rural businesses, struggling in the ongoing banking crisis because of the difficulty to obtain credit.

Mr Boland described the two-hour meeting with the Minister as positive and said the proposals were heard in detail.

IRL represents the interests of almost 500 locally based rural groups in disadvantaged and marginalised areas.