Aspects of rural-urban integration in Western Ireland

Contacts between countryside and town have increased in western Ireland as a concomitant of industrialisation. Members of the farm population now travel to work each day in urban centres as do non-agriculturalists who have moved for residence to the countryside. Such daily journeys are instnamental in establishing other social and economic ties between countryside and town as study of grocery shopping patterns and leisure outings in the hinterland of Galway city — a modern growth centre — reveals. Galway city functions as a shopping centre for nonfarm households in particular. Among both farm and non-farm groups, joint leisure outings of husbands and wives reflect the growing importance of the urban work centre as a social focus.