The European election candidate for Connacht/ Ulster Dana Rosemary Scallon is supporting an economic development plan for the west, launched yesterday by chambers of commerce in the region.
Calling for the plan to be adopted as part of the National Development Plan, Ms Scallon said it showed that "Dublin has become nothing less than a nation-state". "It has been allowed to pull investment opportunity and skill relentlessly from the rest of the country, not only to the detriment of areas like Connacht/Ulster, but to the detriment of Dublin too," she said.
"The development and progression of the west of Ireland will be dependent on the fulfilment of specific infrastructural needs, access by road, rail, air and sea, water supply and treatment, telecommunications, energy, tourism attractions and the development of the current relationship with Northern Ireland," she added.
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