Ennis Chamber of Commerce in Co Clare has become the latest business organisation in the west to express concern at the Government's commitment to more balanced economic development in the regions.
The chamber joins the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC), the Western Development Commission and others who claim access and energy difficulties in the regions are forcing employers to move east.
The criticism is bad news for the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who is in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, today for the opening of new offices for the BMW regional authority.
Mr Ahern is expected to emphasise spending in the regions under the National Development Plan (NDP). However, businesses in the western and Border regions have cited increasing difficulties in spite of NDP investment.
These include poor road access, poor rail access on the western seaboard, poor telecommunications, interrupted or uncertain air access through Shannon Airport and little or no public transport.
Mr Dominic Considine, chief executive of Shannon Showcase, one of the largest new employers in Ennis, says increasing drive times to the region mean it is now possible to travel to Shannon from Boston faster than it is to travel from parts of Ireland.
Mr Shane Malone, of the chamber, has compiled a list of businesses which he says are suffering from poor access. These include a haulage firm whose clients are in Galway, Mayo, Limerick and Shannon; manufacturers; hoteliers and tour bus firms throughout Clare; and Glor, the national venue for traditional music and dance in Ennis.
He also cites limited rail cargo access between Limerick and Galway, and the the absence of any cargo or passenger rail facilities to Shannon Airport as aspects which severely limit development.
The comments are mirrored by Mr Aidan Carey, of IBEC, who says while Galway has good telecommunications access, the cost of sending a broadband message from Galway to Dublin is four times higher than that to send a message from Dublin to Munich.
IBEC points out that in the entire west/north-west and Border region between Galway city and Dundalk, Co Louth, there is no motorway planned under the NDP.
As in Co Clare, the railway service in Co Mayo comes in for severe criticism. Mr Carey claims that of the €635 million promised for the Ballina/Westport line, some €445 million was part of the rail safety programme. After refurbishment of plant and machinery, the region will benefit by the addition of just 20 extra carriages over the seven-year NDP period.
A proposed gas connection from the Mayo coast will serve a ringmain serving Galway, Limerick, Cork and Dublin before a decision to connect any Mayo town. According to IBEC, the arrival of clean, comparatively cheap gas to other centres across the State before the north-west discourages business start-ups there.
In July, the United Chambers of Commerce in Sligo, Leitrim and and Mayo predicted that unless the Government acted immediately to improve road, power and telecommunications infrastructure in the west, a technical and communications gap would emerge which would be impossible to bridge.
