THE recent report of the Combat Poverty Agency, Poverty in Rural Ireland, paints a grim picture of rural deprivation.
The study shows that more than half of those living outside major towns and cities live in poverty. The number rises the further north west you go.
A detailed analysis of the results for Gaeltacht areas confirms the trend, and shows that decades of State intervention in the Gaeltacht have had little impact on the most isolated communities.
The analysis was carried out by one of the authors of the original report, Mr Trutz Haase, a social and economic consultant. It is published in this week's edition of Foinse, the Irish language newspaper.
It uses indicators such as unemployment levels, education and housing to assess the relative distribution of affluence and deprivation and marks each electoral district from one to 10. The higher the score, the more impoverished the area.
About half the electoral districts in the Gaeltacht fall into the most disadvantaged 20 per cent of the State. Relative deprivation is greatest in Mayo (9.5) and Donegal (9.1), with Gaeltacht areas in the rest of the State close to the national average.
The semi urbanised Gaeltacht area between Spiddal and Galway city is of "distinct affluence", however, with a score of 1.7. Here, one fifth of the population goes on to third level education and every fourth household has two or more cars.
The high number of dependants in Donegal (elderly or very young people) reflects the continuing impact of high emigration levels.
"The unemployment rate (32 per cent) is nearly twice the national average (16.9 per cent)," the analysis says.
"The population is markedly skewed towards a lower than average proportion in the professional classes (16.6 per cent compared to 25.2 per cent nationally) and a higher share in the unskilled manual class (17.7 per cent against 10.4 per cent nationally).
"A very high proportion of the population left school below the age of 15 years (55.3 per cent compared to 36.1 per cent nationally). The overall deprivation score for the Donegal Gaeltacht is 9.1, which is significantly above the non Gaeltacht areas (7.7), and a score for the county as a whole of eight."
The diminishing Mayo Gaeltacht has the unenviable distinction of being the most disadvantaged Gaeltacht area. Its deprivation score is 9.5.
