Economic Resilience in Sustainable Communities: Innovative Approaches in Public Spending to Maximise Local Benefits

Abstract

The Government of Ireland, as with all governments across Europe, faces a triple challenge of recovery from the economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the urgent need for action on climate change and ensuring a just transition to a zero-carbon society so that opportunities and burdens are equally distributed. This paper asks whether it is possible to align the recovery from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity to take climate action with innovative local wealth building approaches, to catalyse enhanced local sustainable development, in particular in rural communities. The public health crisis has exposed shortcomings in local economies across Ireland, with rural communities impacted hardest by the economic impacts of the crisis, while the importance of active citizenship to the national response has underscored importance of resilient communities.