Ireland’s Community spirit never died, report finds - 2 out of 3 regularly engage in volunteering /community activities

Community spirit is alive and well in Ireland, according to a report by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) that makes minced meat of the widely held view that community spirit and volunteering declined during the boom years.

The report echoes views expressed to ‘Changing Ireland’ last year by a Volunteer Centres Ireland spokesperson saying volunteering had not gone into decline.

The CSO statistics show, on average, almost two-thirds of people in the Republic of Ireland regularly took part in voluntary or community activities.

Nonetheless, there remains a crisis in community participation levels in disadvantaged areas, particularly among those with low education, the unemployed, people in poor health, immigrants and older people.

Irish Times reporter Carl O’Brien lifted the story from the doldrums of a statistical report to give it the front-page treatment. He reports that “community ties seem particularly healthy” and says the CSO figures challenge the belief that the boom years eroded community spirit.

Read Carl’s main report here, further analysis here and the paper’s editorial from July 30th.