The National Development Plan (NDP) will not deliver for the west of Ireland unless there is positive discrimination in favour of the rural areas in the region, according to the Bishop of Killala, Dr Thomas Finnegan.
Dr Finnegan, who was part of the bishops' initiative that established the Council for the West, was commenting on last week's report from the Western Development Commission (WDC). The findings of the WDC study are "obvious at grassroots parish level", Dr Finnegan told The Irish Times, and the NDP is not meeting the needs of the region.
The Killala diocese, spanning north Mayo and west Sligo, is preparing another survey of parishes that will highlight the situation regarding continued depopulation. A survey published last year, entitled Crusade for Survival, documented declining parish levels and said the two-year time-frame for drawing up the Government's National Spatial Strategy was "too long to have to wait for some movement".
It said most of the money earmarked for the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region should be spent in the initial years to give the area a chance to catch up.
The devastating effect of the drain from rural parishes into the larger urban areas like Galway and Castlebar was charted in this report, and also in Dr Micheal Mac Greil's study for the archdiocese of Tuam, entitled Quo Vadimus. The parish is an "ideal unit size" in which people can take stock of where they are now, and has its own sense of identity, but it is "not locked into any economist's model", the Killala survey noted.
The Connacht-Ulster MEP, Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon, said that the WDC report reflected the case she had made repeatedly at both Government and European Parliament level in relation to the infrastructural deficit in her constituency. This was why she had called for the appointment of a minister for the regions two years ago, who would have a voice at Cabinet level and would ensure that the west got its "fair share".
"While we constantly hear about the Celtic Tiger economy in Ireland, it has failed to leap west of the Shannon," Ms Scallon said. "The Government continues to analyse what the problem may be, despite the fact that we already know what the problems are.
"What we are suffering from is analysis paralysis. The real losers are the families and communities in the region who have been ignored. The people deserve action, they want action and now they are demanding it. Promises and warm words are not enough."
The Green Party has given the WDC report a broad but qualified welcome. A Galway West Green Party election candidate, Mr Niall O Brolchain, said that while his party supported the concepts of better access and improved infrastructure, this should not be done at the expense of the environment.
"While we accept the need for power lines, they should go underground. While we accept the need for improved access, there needs to be much greater emphasis on public transport and on improving the existing roads' network rather than building new roads on greenfield sites", he said.
"While we accept the potential benefits of extending the network of gas pipelines, this must be achieved in an environmentally-sensitive manner."
The Green Party welcomed the WDC's call for a western rail link, but is not so happy about the proposal to establish a body to oversee road development in the west. "We would be far more interested in a body to oversee all aspects of transport infrastructure," Mr O Brolchain said.
The WDC intends to meet regional representatives of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC) in September, when it also hopes to give renewed impetus to its study, entitled The State of the West. The Council for the West did its own audit to coincide with the report's publication, and found that expenditure of £750 million, combined with the "political will" to do so, would bridge the gap between the aspirations of the NDP and the reality in the western region.
A redirection of just 1.75 per cent of the planned investment under the NDP would fully fund the required infra structural development in the region, said Mr Sean Hannick, vice-chairman of the Council for the West.
