STUDENTS from the west of Ireland studying outside the region in third level institutions were asked yesterday to stay at home on the night of the 1996 census on April 28th "to ensure a better future for the region by helping to boost its population figures".

The request came from the Council of the West, a voluntary body set up by the Catholic bishops in the region through the Developing the West Together Initiative, which aims to arrest economic decline in the west of Ireland and, in particular, accelerating falls in rural population.

According to the council, much investment and development is based on population. It has asked students studying outside the west to extend their weekend home to include that Sunday night when the census is due to be completed. The council co ordinator, Ms Lisa McAllister, denied that the request would distort census figures.

To assist with their stay at home on that night, the council has sought the co operation of bus and rail companies by asking them to run early morning services on the following Monday. It has also requested that colleges postpone early lectures that day.

"In the last national census a large and very important part of the population were not counted in their own communities - they were third level students from the west temporarily studying in other areas. The inclusion of this essential part of our population can have an immediate and positive effect on the west of Ireland. The exclusion of these people will have the opposite effect," she added.

The council claims that Mayo lost a TD due to population decline recorded in the last census, as its two constituency populations fell below the constitutional requirement of at least 20,000 people per TD.

"About 3,000 students from Mayo are temporarily studying in other areas, furthering their education and equipping themselves for the future. If the 3,000 are not counted on April 28th, this would mean a false figure being recorded, which would mean that Mayo could lose yet another TD," she claimed.

Investors examining the profile of a region invariably looked for a young, educated and available workforce, she said. The absence of such a large number of students could very easily put a question mark over investment.