OECD review of Ireland’s rural policy spotlights challenges and potential for the country’s rural regions

The review looks at how rural development is organised in Ireland and what improvements are needed to address challenges and opportunities in the country’s rural areas. It will help inform Ireland’s new rural development policy for 2026-2031. 

The OECD’s analysis highlights Ireland’s whole-of-government approach to rural development, which has increased visibility of policies’ rural impacts across all government departments, and points to the country’s sophisticated rural policy framework. 

Ireland’s approach, guided by the stand-alone Department of Rural and Community Development and Gaeltacht, is unique among OECD countries. Rural portfolios in other member countries usually sit within departments of agriculture or regional ministries, rather than as standalone entities. On top of this, the national strategy – Our Rural Future – includes both direct actions for rural development that come within the department’s remit and indirect actions by other government departments which will impact rural Ireland. 

The OECD’s analysis finds that Ireland’s rural regions have significant potential in areas such as the green economy, tourism and the food sector. But they also face persistent challenges: unequal access to resources, opportunities and services; under-resourced subnational structures; gaps in service delivery (e.g. in digital connectivity, employment opportunities and access to public services); and a lack of data distinguishing between hinterlands, mid-sized towns, accessible rural regions and remote regions. 

To address these challenges, the report contains a series of recommendations designed to strengthen Ireland's whole-of-government approach whilst building subnational capacity and place-based responsiveness. These aim to improve rural economic development, enhance rural intelligence, encourage the use of more innovative monitoring and evaluation processes, and strengthen subnational capacity, while continuing to engage and leverage rural actors’ local knowledge. 

The OECD’s review, carried out for the Irish government, is its first country-specific analysis of a member country since Poland in 2018. Such reviews assess the performance of member countries’ rural areas and make recommendations on policies related to rural development and other areas with significant rural impacts.  

Ireland’s approach to rural development is closely aligned with the aims of the EU’s long-term vision for rural areas, and its rural policy framework involves many of the approaches recommended as part of the EU’s Rural Pact. 

Explore the country page on Ireland containing examples, inspirational initiatives and actions that contribute to advancing the Rural Pact there. 

Other EU Member States are working on improving their rural policies, some of them with EU support. Find out more about the European Commission’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI), which provides tailor-made support for EU Member States’ national and regional governments to seek expertise on how to develop such integrated approaches. For example, in 2025 the Netherlands received support for capacity building for comprehensive rural development policy and preparation of a rural policy review. This supports actions that are also set out in the country’s commitment made to the Rural Pact.