Special measure against population decline in Ireland: Those who renovate an old house receive more than 80,000 francs

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Live like in the Oscar nominated movie “Banshees of Inisherin”, expansive sea views and lots of nature. In Ireland you now get money for it. Since Saturday, the government in Dublin has been paying up to 84,000 euros (82,000 francs) to those who buy and renovate a house on one of the 23 remote islands on the west coast of the EU state.

The aim is that the number of residents there, which has fallen by 13 percent since 1996, will rise again. In addition, a fifth of the population on the islands between Cork and Donegal is over 65 years old – nationally that is 12 percent.

The reasons for the population decline are a lack of jobs and poor infrastructure with poor transport links and few doctors, shops and leisure facilities.

House must have been empty for two years or be dilapidated

Now the government is counting on many people to be able to work anywhere thanks to the home office. To ensure access to medical care, new technologies such as robot dogs or drones are being tested on some islands that have no bridges or are cut off at high tide.

A condition for state aid is that the house was built before 1993 and has been empty or dilapidated for at least two years. The cabinet emphasized that it was not a relocation bonus.

Some islanders were skeptical. They criticize that the money provided is not enough to renovate a dilapidated house. But most applauded the project. This enabled jobs to be created and the housing shortage to be solved, said Aisling Moran of the island association Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann. (SDA/jmh)

Source: Blick