When a government is confronted by a failure of policy, it frequently commissions a report. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr O Cúiv, has asked the Western Development Commission (WDC) to draw up a strategy designed to co-ordinate and encourage development in the seven western counties.
What was particularly arresting about this piece of political hand-washing, however, was that the report will be produced by a body whose budget the minister has cut and recently threatened with dissolution. Furthermore, the WDC produced a comprehensive development report entitled State of the West, only two years ago, which now gathers dust on Mr O Cúiv's shelf. It found the economic gap between the eastern and western regions was continuing to widen. It recommended the development of transport, electricity and telecommunications in the western region. And it called for the establishment of a senior governmental working group to produce a costed development programme. With an election looming, the Coalition Government ignored the report and, instead, Mr O Cúiv announced that €25 million would be provided for the most depopulated areas.
Since then, the situation has worsened. The National Development Plan, which was to have discriminated in favour of the Border, Midland and West (BMW) region, has been turned on its head. In the first three years of the plan, there has been an underspend of €644m on infrastructural projects, amounting to a 41 per cent shortfall in the projected investments. Such projects are the lifeblood of industrial development. Without a modern infrastructure, foreign companies will not locate in regional areas. Just seven of the 20 IDA projects announced this year are located outside Dublin and Cork, while net job losses have been concentrated in the WDC area.
The Coalition Government knows precisely what is required to address the decline of the region. But it has not been prepared to make the necessary investments. Now it seeks to confuse the situation by commissioning yet another report. A western rail corridor, the decentralisation of Government agencies, support for towns that were not designated under the National Spatial Strategy, greater co-operation between local authorities and investment in rural tourism will be on the agenda. But will anything be done? On the basis of the Government's recent performance, any substantial investment to redress the existing shortfall appears highly unlikely. That is a disgraceful situation, and makes the political posturing of Mr O Cúiv all the more regrettable.