Local partnerships for rural development: Ireland's experience in context

Ireland has one of the strongest records in Europe of using local partnerships to address the challenges of rural development. These include County Enterprise Boards, LEADER companies and Local Area Partnerships. This paper presents the results of recent survey research which compares the different types of Irish partnerships in terms of their origins, growth, activities and impacts, and assesses the Irish partnership experience within the context of research in seven other EU countries. Such a comparative approach provides insights which assume particular interest at a time when the Irish Government has adopted new initiatives to promote greater co-ordination of partnership activities at a county level.