A Living Countryside?: The Politics of Sustainable Development in Rural Ireland

The ideal of achieving 'sustainable rural development' has become a key dimension of EU, national, regional, and local policy in recent years. Whether this ideal is achievable in the near future to any substantial degree is by no means certain. By examining Ireland, this book asks what the sustainable development ideals mean to specific rural groups in specific policy areas and to what extent they are or can be achieved.Drawing on a range of experiences from both the north and south of Ireland, it compares various opportunities and obstacles to the actual achievement of sustainable rural development. In doing so, the book identifies the degree of policy convergence between north and south and whether this is transferable to other EU states; the extent of harmonization and integration of policies within the overall economic framework; the extent of commitment to a living countryside in Ireland; the role of policy in moulding sustainable development strategies; and the extent to which different sectors of society will be challenged in terms of future survival.