The Western Development Commission is "chronically under-resourced", according to its chief executive. Mr Liam Scollan was responding to recent criticisms levelled by the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, and Mayo Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Ring.
As reported in this newspaper last month, Mr O Cuiv refused to accept responsibility for the commission in his new portfolio. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Walsh, is now responsible for it. Mr Ring criticised the total £150,000 investment in Mayo projects by a fund operated by the commission and the number of reports prepared for it by consultants. "We have so many reports about the west that they now fill several offices. What we now need is real action."
Mr Scollan said only two staff were assigned to the £25 million Western Investment Fund. The fund is used for equity or loan investments in companies in the Connacht counties and in Clare and Donegal.
The commission was set up on a statutory footing with a £5 million annual roll-out for the fund, which came on stream last September; £1.4 million has been spent on 11 projects out of 83 applications since then. "We are achieving well above other State companies on a comparative basis with investment in the seven counties," Mr Scollan said. "Due diligence is a long process. We have got to be prudent." The chairman of the Council for the West, Killala-based businessman Mr Sean Hannick, has called on all politicians in the west to work together to implement the commission reports submitted to the Government. Mr Hannick is also a member of the commission.
He said that while it had a serious staffing shortage, reports on fishing, tourism, organics and manufacturing have been produced. "The commission has set an agenda for developing the west with these reports. It is time now for our politicians to enforce on the Government the need to implement these reports." Mr Scollan said he had raised the staffing issue repeatedly since he had joined the commission. "I want him to eventually resolve our chronic human resources shortage," he said. Since the commission was set up, three staff members had made "150 recommendations for action to Government".