Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting Carrick-on-Shannon, as I’d been asked to chair the Simon community’s review of rural homelessness in Ireland.

Unlike in urban areas where you regularly see people sleeping in porches and shop doorways, rural homelessness is a lot less visible. People may have a roof over their head, but the conditions they live in are no longer suitable for human habitation.

Many are elderly men who are unable to care for themselves, who are isolated from family and neighbours and whose social skills are pretty basic. We all know of such cases where people are living in terrible conditions and accept it as totally normal.

Always at these events, there’s something that really catches my attention. This time it was a question posed by Margaret McConnell, the senior executive officer for housing with Sligo County Council. Margaret asked, who is it that can or will want to live in rural areas now and in the future? She wondered would it be just the well-off and middle class who could afford to. This is a question certainly worth thinking about.

Rural poverty is a very different experience to urban poverty. If you are poor and living in a rural area, there isn’t the same opportunity to shop around for value, be it for groceries or fuel. Transport is a huge issue too, and if you don’t own a car or, for some reason, you can’t drive, you are really isolated. You are cut off from possible employment opportunities and it’s hard to access training, medical and other services. Even volunteering is difficult. All of this goes towards making life more isolating and downright boring.

It also makes life more expensive. James Claffey of Irish Rural Link said that a study they completed in 2010 showed that it cost households, on average, €100 extra a week to live in a rural area as opposed to an urban area. Over and over again, we are being told it costs more to provide services to rural areas. We’ve seen the closure of post offices and garda stations. Even small shops are being hit, with 182 having closed their doors since this time last year

A recent report by Pobal looked at the changes in deprivation that have occurred in each local area over the five years from 2006-2011. It found that while all the country has been affected by the economic downturn, the five major urban centres were least affected. It was the distant commuter counties outside Dublin that were hardest hit.

While small changes appear insignificant, it is the accumulation of these changes that can make life more difficult for everyone. Margaret’s question deserves serious consideration. It’s one that has implications for everyone, not only those who can afford to, but those who want to live in a rural area.

Finally, it’s not often I get to say a good word about Tesco, but I have to congratulate them on a new initiative that will put €1 million into the hands of good causes. Every six weeks, the Tesco Community Fund will donate up to €1,000 to three local good causes in communities around each of its 146 stores. Customers will decide who gets the money in each area and it’s expected that as many as 3,500 local organisations and charities will benefit. Now that’s a good news story.