The spatial distribution of household disposable income

Although not development policies per se, taxation and social policy, as amongst the biggest line items in terms of expenditure and revenue in the state budget, have a very important impact on the distribution of welfare both across families of different incomes and types and across space. Since the early 1990s in Ireland there has been a growing emphasis on spatially targeting policy options in the area of poverty and social exclusion. For example, the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (1997) has a spatial dimension in two of its five priority themes: disadvantaged urban areas and marginalised rural communities. The National Spatial Strategy (2002) presents a national programme of development actions to reduce inter-regional inequality. Within these frameworks, local Partnerships have been utilised as a mechanism to target resources at poverty “blackspots” (Haase and Foley 2009).