The Council for the West has been urged to convene a meeting to bring together the social and economic interests of the region. The purpose of this is to present a united approach to the Government in relation to future road and rail investment in the west of Ireland.
Marian Harkin MEP has written to the council chairman Sean Hannick stressing the need for an organised united approach to Government on future investment in the region.
According to Ms Harkin organisations in the Dublin area are very active in driving the campaign for investment in light rail and the Minister for Transport is fully supportive of transport investment in the greater Dublin area.
However, the independent MEP has highlighted the fact that the chairman of the Government’s new An Bord Snip committee is on the record as dismissing the case for the western rail corridor. According to Ms Harkin the west and other regions are up against a Dublin dominated An Bord Snip committee who are reporting to a government with a track record on refusing to deliver balanced regional development.
“It must be immediately made clear that continued discrimination against the west will no longer be tolerated,” she said. “If this is not done now the campaign of those who say that exceptional funding is necessary for the Dublin region to enable it to compete with other regions in Europe will succeed at the expense of areas like the west which has continued to see its ability to compete eroded through lack of Government commitment to balanced regional development,” she explained.
