BUSINESS, COMMUNITY and sporting groups are being urged to back a campaign to retain the Western Development Commission.
Abolition of the commission was recommended in the McCarthy report on public spending cuts, and the statutory organisation has had its investment funding cut substantially.
However, Council for the West chairman Seán Hannick said the commission was an “excellent model for community and regional development”, which has improved standards of living in the west.
He said it was worth noting the commission had invested more than €36 million in 80 enterprises throughout the west, “resulting in 1,200 jobs and an additional €130 million in private funding”.
Exchequer support for the fund had been significantly reduced this year and in the absence of funding next year, a decline in enterprise development, and possible job losses, would follow, he added.
Mr Hannick referred to renewable energy projects that the commission had recently supported, including a wood biomass programme which would provide up to 900 jobs and generate up to €15 million annually.
Seven pilot renewable energy projects had been established, and this would not have happened without the strategic support of the commission, he said.
The commission had also pioneered the “Look West” initiative to encourage people to move to the region, and provided invaluable support for micro-enterprises.
Its policy team had ensured balanced regional development was a core Government objective in the National Development Plan, he said.
The council believed the western region needed the commission now more than ever,” he said.
Mr Hannick appealed to “all community groups, local authorities, farm organisations, community fora, chambers of commerce, credit unions, sports organisations, concerned individuals and other bodies throughout the region to get behind the campaign” and lobby politicians on the issue.
A commission report published in the summer recommended that a focused and targeted State policy for the regions should extend beyond transport and infrastructure. It urged investment in the three “Es” – enterprise, employment and education, along with a “drive to increase innovation”.
The commission is the statutory body promoting economic and social development in Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Galway and Clare.
The commission’s abolition was proposed in July last year in the report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, chaired by UCD economist Colm McCarthy.