Celebrating the Impact of LEADER on Rural Communities - Winners Announced!
A celebration of how LEADER has impacted rural enterprise, organisations, communities and local environments across Ireland.
The Sign Post Webinar Series
In association with our industry partners, we are pointing the way to a low emissions agriculture through informative webinars.
These one-hour webinars will focus on key topics to provide and equip agri-professionals with a better understanding of current research to meet the needs of clients.
Join us Friday, March 5th, from 09:30-10:30.
Guest Speaker: Enda Buckley, Carbery Co-op
Topic: Approach to Sustainability at Carbery
Latest NRN News
New Video On Natural Capital Approach Welcomed
Minister of State Pippa Hackett has welcomed the release of a new animated video, produced by Natural Capital Ireland in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), to introduce the concept of Natural Capital Accounting to the Irish...
LEADER Cooperation Project ‘Innovating Communities’ Launched
Yesterday marked the launch of the LEADER funded Cooperation Project ‘Innovating Communities’. Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys led the launch of this border region project valued at over €1m, involving 6 counties. The project is being...
OviData EIP-AGRI Project Featured in IOA’s Organic Matters Magazine
An article by Eamon Wall, OviData EIP-AGRI project leader and former lead of Ireland’s sheep breed improvement programme run by Sheep Ireland, in a recent edition of the Irish Organic Association’s Organic Matters magazine, provides us with an overview of the OviData...
EIP-AGRI: Ireland’s Operational Groups 2019 Booklet
The National Rural Network team at NUI Galway have designed and produced a booklet entitled ‘EIP-AGRI: Ireland’s Operational Groups 2019’ to highlight and promote the 23 Irish EIP-AGRI Operational Groups selected by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Latest NRN Blog Posts
RURALIZATION: The Opening of Rural Areas to Renew Rural Generations, Jobs and Farms
In this National Rural Network Farm Viability and Competitiveness guest blog, Dr Aisling Murtagh, RURALIZATION Postdoctoral Researcher in the Discipline of Geography’s Rural Studies Unit at NUI Galway and Dr Maura Farrell, Lecturer in the Discipline of Geography at...
Reimagining Rural Futures
In this National Rural Network EIP-AGRI guest blog, Dr Brendan Dunford, Manager of the Burren Programme, explains that the role of the farmer is much more than just being a ‘food producer’, but also one that deliveries a number of agri-environmental public goods as...
Biorefinery Glas – Bringing the Bioeconomy to Irish Farms
In this National Rural Network EIP-AGRI guest blog, James Gaffey, Co-Director of the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CIRCBIO) at Shannon ABC in IT Tralee and coordinator of the Biorefinery Glas EIP-AGRI Project, small-scale grass biorefinery demonstration project...
Are you interested in rural development?
The National Rural Network (NRN)
The National Rural Network (NRN) is a component of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP) led by Irish Rural Link in partnership with The Wheel, NUI Galway and Philip Farrelly & Co.
The overall aim of the NRN is to build and sustain a membership-based network that maximises the beneficial outcomes of the Rural Development Programme.

NRN Case Studies
Visit our library of case-studies from across our NRN themes.