Community development in the west of Ireland: Twenty years on in the Killala area

This research returns to a 1986 Community Development Journal article, which highlighted the unique and successful locally driven community development efforts in Killala, western Ireland. Since then, a variety of social, economic, and political changes have taken place, which have reshaped Ireland and the capacity for local community action. Twenty years on, this community was revisited with the goal of assessing the changes, as well as to determine community characteristics that have persisted. This article seeks to provide an update on local conditions, presents an in-depth exploration of local grassroots efforts, and builds on the previous case study by providing an empirical exploration of the factors shaping local community agency - a mixed-method framework consisting of extensive key informant interviews, focus groups, and household survey data.