Published: Friday, 27th February, 2009 9:00am

34% rise in Offaly disposable incomes

by Deirdre Verney

Comments (0) | Print | Email

Disposable incomes in Offaly rose by over 34% between 2000-2006, the latest CSO figures indicate this week.

However, the county continues to lag behind many parts of the country, including the capital, commuter belt and the mid-west.

The County Incomes and Regional GDP 2006 report published by the Central Statistics Office yesterday (Tuesday) shows that disposable income in Offaly increased by almost €6,600 since 2000, going from €11,940 in 2000 to €18,556 in 2006.

However, the good news for the population of the Faithful County is that figure is the highest in the Midlands, even though it only hits 92.1% of the state average, well below the highs experienced in Dublin, Limerick, Kildare and Meath.

As expected, the capital had the highest disposable income in the state in 2006 as the Celtic Tiger still roared giving every resident in Dublin on average €23,226 after all the basic bills and expenditure were met (12% higher than the state average), while at the other end of the scale Donegal had the lowest with just €17,252. Other counties enjoying healthy figures in 2006 were Kildare and Limerick with €21,922 and €20,741 in their pockets respectively.

Across the State the average disposable income hit €20,678, the figures show however, only four counties hit this figure and Offaly was one of only eight counties coming in at less than 90% of the State average.

Worryingly, the disposable income per person of the Midland region was 9.4% below the state average in 2006 and was the lowest in the eight regional authority areas.

Reacting to the figures, Moate-based Irish Rural Link (IRL) said that even at the height of the boom, areas outside of Dublin lagged behind because of a lack of investment in critical infrastructure and the side lining of enterprise creation in rural locations.

'The CSO figures show that disposable income per person was highest in the Dublin region, where it was more than 12% above the State average. The Border region was 8% below the average and the Midland region was 9.4% below average. Only Limerick, Kildare and Meath were the other counties above the State average. Eight counties were below 90% of the average, ' IRL Chief Executive Seamus Boland said.

Mr Boland continued: 'These 2006 figures highlight how badly people in rural Ireland were left behind at the height of the Celtic Tiger. Unfortunately future figures will show an even greater disparity. The average income from farming of 60,000 smallholders is less than half the average industrial wage and in the past this was supplemented by part-time employment (often in the construction sector). The deterioration in the economy will inevitably result in an even deeper gap between the incomes of rural and urban workers unless action is taken.'

He called for priority to bw given to regional and rural development needs or else huge numbers of rural people will be left in extreme poverty. 'In the 1930s, 1950s and 1980s hundreds of thousands of rural people were forced to leave our shores. The global nature of the downturn today means emigration cannot act as a safety valve like before. At least 30% of commitments in the 2001-2006 National Development Plan for the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region was left unspent compounding the difference between the West of Ireland and the east coast.'

'Investment in infrastructure such as broadband and transport and the smart spending of the National Development Plan will be required to ensure rural areas can realise their potential and play a full role in the Government"s "Smart Economy" vision,' Mr Boland concluded.