Sir, - Your recent editorials (January 5th and 8th) are finally recognising some of the many serious problems facing the West of Ireland.The NESC report published just before Christmas identified four counties in the West as areas of decline and deprivation. This report has received some comment but it is only one in a long list of reports and official statistics, all of which point to a crisis in the West. The 1993 Regional Accounts published last June showed the West to be at 71.7 per cent of national GDP. The Fitzpatrick Report published last year, which examined the regional impact of the Structural Funds, for 1994 and 1995 termed the West and Border regions as "non convergers" - i.e., they started out in a poor position vis-a-vis the other regions and finished up in the same poor position. The Labour Force Survey figures for 1996 shows job increases over 1995 of 50,000 in Munster/Leinster minus Louth, and 2,000 in Connacht/Ulster. Your editorial of January 8th referred to the IDA figures for 1997 - once again a record year for job creation with 15,170 new jobs. Well done to the IDA at a national level. But if we look at the figures for the North West/ Donegal region we see that there were 6,910 people employed in IDA-supported companies in 1994 and 6,936 people in 1998 - an increase of 26 jobs in four years.These figures speak for themselves but up to now the Council for the West and a few others were lone voices in expressing their concern and dismay at the rapidly worsening situation. We in the council have made every effort tohighlight the crisis emerging on our small island. It is not an exaggeration to say we are looking at the development of a dual economy.Urgent action is needed to prevent the continued slippage becoming a landslide. The Council for the West is calling on the Government to:1. Seek the retention of Objective 1 Status to 2006 for all qualifying regions.2. Immediately address the infrastructural needs of the region.3. Ensure that a comprehensive regional policy is put in place.In this context it is also important to remember that this is not an East v West issue. If a coherent region of inner-city Dublin (just like inner-city Liverpool) were to apply for Objective 1 Status alongside the West/Border regions we would see this as equitable and fair. - Yours, etc.,Marian Harkin,Chairperson,Council for the West,Market Yard,Sligo.