Ministers meet west of the Shannon for first time

For the first time in the State's history the Cabinet will meet west of the Shannon today, when it sits in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, to mark the start of what it says is the economic regeneration of Ireland's Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region.

However, the visit will bring no returning heroes. No member of the Cabinet represents a constituency in Connacht.

The Cabinet brings with it the National Development Plan 2000-2006, particularly the section on the £13.4 billion investment in infrastructure, aimed at attracting high technology industries which, it is hoped, will turn around more than 150 years of population decline.

The National Plan is about developing the west, the Border counties and the midlands as well as Dublin, according to the Government.

However, some imbalances remain. Four of the five key routes to be developed to motorway/improved dual carriageway standard by 2006 are in the south.

By contrast the north-west is to get no motorways. The Border region, Cos Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth, is to get part of a motorway, the Dublin-Belfast corridor as it passes through Co Louth.

The west will feature in the improved Dublin-Galway route, but for the entire BMW region, one and a bit seems to be the balancing factor.

While the Cabinet is expected to use Knock Airport to travel to Ballaghaderreen, the total National Plan investment scheduled for the BMW region's four airports is about £8 million, or roughly the amount Knock said it needs.

The main features of the plan are:

£891.4 million for nonnational roads to complement the current restoration programme to be completed by 2005.

£294 million for rural water management.

£240 million for waste-management schemes.

£31 million for urban and village renewal.

£84 million for e-commerce, to improve the standard of advanced information communications and to lever private-sector investment into this area.

£10 million for seaports.

£8 million for regional airports, to enhance and upgrade airports at Galway, Knock, Sligo and Donegal. The money is about the amount required by Knock Airport.

£156 million for culture, recreation and sports facilities. The money will finance the work necessary to consolidate the region's heritage sites and improve access to National Parks.

£59 million for the promotion of tourism.

£54 million for a microenterprise programme. Mainly to assist county enterprise boards to fund e-commerce ventures and communications technology.

£94 million for rural development. Measures will include investment operated by the Western Development Commission, provision of support for research and support for rural diversification in horticulture.

£48 million for forestry.

£83 million for fisheries, harbours, aquaculture development and Gaeltacht and the islands.

£220.7 million for the development of programmes to encourage social inclusion.

£200 million for the development of public transport. The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, identified the absence of public transport in rural areas as a key barrier to social inclusion.