The Western Development Commission appears to be on a collision course with the Government over its attitude to the Corrib gas find off the Co Mayo coast. The west will almost certainly lose out if the free market approach to energy supply prevails, the commission has warned.
New legislation to regulate the gas industry will provide a key opportunity to ensure that less populated areas benefit from the energy source, the Western Development Commission (WDC) says.
The Government intends to appoint a regulator for the gas industry next year and the WDC believes that supporting legislation should include safeguards. Otherwise, it says, private operators will just concentrate on large urban markets.
The Department of Public Enterprise has already told the commission that a "free market situation" will apply to the construction of pipeline routes linked to the Corrib gas find. It says the Minister, Mrs O'Rourke, has no function under existing legislation in determining the proposed route.
However, the semi-state body is not satisfied with this and is proposing that a small, closed meeting be convened, as a first step, involving officials from Mrs O'Rourke's Department, the Department of Marine and Natural Resources and "three or four individuals who can present views on the points above".
The WDC is offering to facilitate the meeting and says it would "greatly value" the presence of the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey.
The issue is on the agenda for a meeting between the WDC and the Forum for Western Ministers in Dublin this week when involvement of small towns in decentralisation plans, tourism, adding value to seafood and under-staffing within the WDC offices will also be discussed.
Significantly, the meeting takes place in a week when Bord Gais is displaying plans for the proposed pipeline to the west, linking Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork.
The pipeline will supply gas to the midlands and west, and will also facilitate the development of finds on the Corrib field. Ironically, Co Mayo is not included in the route in spite of the Corrib discovery.
The WDC points out that Government policies in relation to gas are likely to apply for the next two to three decades and will encompass not just the Corrib field - with its predicted 10-year lifespan - but also all future gas fields off the west coast.
"It is vitally important that current plans are anchored in a way that is consistent with the industrial development and environmental needs of the west," it says.
The WDC recommends that gas pipeline construction should be based on an appraisal of the routes which tie in with regional development and which takes account of the cross-Border interconnector to Northern Ireland.
Already, Northern Ireland has its eye on the west, according to offshore consultant Mr Michael Cunningham. Writing in last week's Western People, he noted that discussions were already under way to extend Northern Ireland's natural gas network to the north-west and possibly to Donegal.
The WDC believes that a study should be commissioned to examine the economic basis of investment in gas infrastructure in the region which would address ways of establishing an "effective partnership" with the oil and gas industry. It should also look at employment opportunities, both onshore and offshore, and the impact of a new, gas-based power station in the west.
Established on a statutory basis last year, with a base in Dillon House, Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, the WDC is coming into its own after a long wait for enabling legislation and for the promised funding to underpin its plans.
The final strategic plan has been endorsed by 14 Government departments but cannot be implemented under the current staffing of nine, the commission says.
It is calling for the Government to increase staffing to a recommended level of 20 as soon as possible, and is seeking the support of the Forum for Western Ministers for this.
It is anxious to get moving on its policy blueprints and on the Western Investment Fund, which was set up to support commercial projects.
At this week's meeting, the WDC will be urging the western Ministers to remember small towns when approving decentralisation plans. It will also be discussing a report it is due to publish on tourism which focuses on directing visitors to "untapped" rural areas. "Tourists cannot be forced to go to places which they haven't heard of, and where the facilities have not been fully provided," it notes.
The meeting will discuss the findings of a value-added seafood steering group, chaired on the WDC's behalf by Mr Michael Gallagher, of Gundry's netmaking in Co Donegal. The group favours clustering and greater co-operation between the private and public sectors to achieve economies of scale and greater competitiveness.
It intends to contribute to a review of the fish processing industry, currently being undertaken for the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources by Indecon International Consultants and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
