Candidates in many rural constituencies complained during the election that there was no sign of recovery. The much-vaunted recovery was, they reckoned, confined to Dublin. The regional statistics on job creation and unemployment over the last two years are summarised in the graphic – they come from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) quarterly household survey.

Dublin has done better, but there has been job growth almost everywhere, fastest in the midlands and positive everywhere else except in the west. Even there, the unemployment rate fell, due to a contraction in the labour force. The assertion that there has been no recovery around the provinces seems to be incorrect. But it does seem clear that the jobs being created are mainly in the bigger urban centres, including Cork, Limerick, and Galway as well as Dublin. Jobs data for areas smaller than the eight regions will be released in the 2016 census returns and will likely confirm that small towns and villages are no longer competitive locations for expanding businesses.

People commute longer distances than they used to and cities such as Limerick and Galway are regional employment centres. Does it matter if jobs are created in Limerick rather than in Tipperary town, or in Cork rather than Fermoy? A trip to work that takes half an hour, or an hour, instead of 10 or 15 minutes, is not perceived by most people as an insuperable obstacle. So should politicians, through the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, be seeking to twist the arms of expanding firms, encouraging them to disperse employment to a large number of towns and villages?

At one time this was an explicit objective of policy. I recall back in the 1970s trenchant objections in Enniscorthy to industrial expansion being directed to Wexford, all of 20 minutes down the road. Car ownership was lower then and the roads were poor. Nowadays I imagine people do not care as much.

Services

The businesses that have led the jobs recovery are not engaged, with a few exceptions, in traditional manufacturing. Many of them are not manufacturers at all, but provide export services in software and support to hi-tech sectors. These companies need specialised staff and are attracted to the larger centres where labour pools are bigger and back-up services are available. But with affordable car ownership and decent roads, politicians seem to be more concerned than the general public.

There is no denying though that many smaller towns and villages are losing their role as centres of employment and retailers are struggling to survive. Banks, filling stations and shops have been closing through the recession and it is becoming obvious that the bubble concealed what was really going on. Many of these smaller centres have been in decline for decades and the bubble brought only a temporary and unsustainable pause in the process. As in so many things, Ireland tends to think its problems are unique. However, this pattern of small-town retail decline is common internationally and has been pronounced in parts of rural England for example.

The ultimate source is the spread of car ownership. The percentage of employed adults with the use of a car is approaching 100% in rural areas. There are some counties where 90% of rural households have at least one car. It is unrealistic to expect this huge increase in personal mobility to have had no effect on the location of employment and retailing.

The small towns and villages assume a mainly residential function in these circumstances and become centres for convenience shops only. Banks, supermarkets and cinemas are no longer viable and people are willing and able to travel for half an hour, or longer, to avail of these facilities. The future of towns and villages is as attractive places to live rather than as places to work and shop. Ireland is not a large country. The expansion of car ownership and improvements in the road network continue to make it smaller.

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