The plan will give the west of Ireland a "much fairer share" of resources, according to the Western Development Commission (WDC). The Council for the West chairwoman, Ms Marian Harkin, has also welcomed it as a "decided improvement" on the plan for 1994-99.
The £13.8 billion slice to the Border, midland and western region out of the overall allocation of £40.6 billion means that the per capita allocation there is 23 per cent higher than the national average, Mr Liam Scollan, chief executive of the WDC, said yesterday.
"If the plan is fully implemented over the next seven years, the current imbalance in the sharing of economic growth should be addressed, and the people of the west should experience enhanced economic prosperity," he said. Mr Scollan also welcomed the emphasis on balanced regional development as a fundamental objective, which, he said, implied a "rejection of an exclusively city-led approach to investment".
Identifying a range of smaller towns - called "gateways" - was an important move, Mr Scollan said, and should "spread the benefit of growth to smaller urban centres and rural areas". Some of these centres could act as hubs around which natural resources, fisheries and tourism could be developed.
All ten recommendations made for the west by the WDC in the submission published last April had been included in the plan, Mr Scollan pointed out.
The investment in economic infrastructure, would "address the infrastructural deficit faced by the western counties to date", Mr Scollan said. "In particular, the accelerated road investment programme will improve access from the west to external markets for companies in the region."
Ms Harkin said the plan appeared to contain the investment required to allow the west of Ireland catch up with the rest of the State. However, the investment should be "frontloaded" to ensure that the regions could compete for the industry required to create jobs and reinvigorate the area, she said.
Ms Harkin also said that while the plan appeared to contain "reasonable measures" to support agriculture, the core economic activity, it was essential that non-farm incomes of farm families be provided before the adverse effects of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the next World Trade Organisation rounds were felt.
She said the national spatial planning strategy was essential for balanced development of the region, but the two-year time period was "too long" for an area that was already well behind the national average. The plan outlined some of these discrepancies, such as that average earnings in 1998 of £4,000 less per capita in the Objective One region than in the non-Objective One region.
The recent decision by Bord Gais to "to effectively isolate the west of Ireland north of Galway" from access to natural gas, and the inadequate power supply in the west/north-west, would continue to pose major difficulties for inward and indigenous investment, she said.
"The aspiration by the Government to locate 50 per cent of inward investment in the Objective One area cannot be realised unless adequate infrastructure is in place, and this we believe is a major priority," Ms Harkin said.
She was also critical of the sum of £8 million earmarked for developing four regional airports, in Mayo, Galway, Sligo and Donegal. This figure was not sufficient and did not indicate "serious intent" by the Government, she said.
