The Western Development Commission has expressed "strong disappointment" at the Government's decision to make road projects in the south and east regions the priority, at the expense of the seven western counties.
National Roads Authority (NRA) allocations for this year "do not reflect the need for improved infrastructure in the west", the WDC said in a statement.
"The failure to prioritise any major road project in the west is out of line with stated Government policy of balanced regional development," it said.
The WDC chief executive, Ms Lisa McAllister, said it was clear that targets in the National Development Plan would not be met.
"The roads infrastructure deficit in the west is not being addressed. This will do little for the competitiveness of the west in the short term, and leave it disadvantaged when trying to attract industries over the coming years," she said.
The WDC noted that there was no definite commitment to starting any major national road in counties Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway and Clare - for which it is responsible as an agency for economic and social development. "While the NRA has said that two schemes - a three-kilometre stretch from Boyle to Carrick-on-Shannon on the N4, and five kilometres from Ballina to Bohola on the N26 - are regarded as 'priority', there is no definite commitment to start work on them this year," the WDC said. Both schemes had been at the planning stage for several years.
"As recently as this time last year, the stretch from Ballina to Bohola was scheduled for completion in 2003, and this is an example of how targets in the west are falling further and further behind," Ms McAllister said. The WDC said it was also extremely concerned at the total lack of funding for the N5 and said this could have grave consequences for Co Mayo. "This is widely acknowledged to be the worst primary route in the country and a major deterrent to investment in the western region.
"There is no commitment to start any major new schemes on the N5, despite the designation of Castlebar and Ballina as hub towns in the recently-published National Spatial Strategy," Ms McAllister said.
She acknowledged that two of the seven major projects to start in 2003 would have a positive impact on access to the western region. These are the Kilcock to Kinnegad stretch on the N4 and the Carrickmacross bypass, which will improve access to Donegal.
At a meeting with the Taoiseach in January 2002, the WDC put forward 13 priority schemes which would address the enormous road infrastructure deficit in the west. Eight of these relate to the N5, but most of these schemes remain at the planning stages.
A recent Fitzpatrick report on investment in the roads network under the National Development Plan pointed out that the expenditure in the Border, midland and western region was 75 per cent of that budgeted.
