Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams is to launch a new campaign called Stand Up For the West in the Welcome Inn Hotel in Castlebar next Thursday (May 28 ) at 8pm.
Belmullet representative Councillor Rose Conway-Walsh is a spokesperson for the new campaign, which she says is being set-up to "demand a new deal for the west of Ireland" and ensure rural communities are not left behind in the economic recovery.
MEP for the Midlands North West Matt Carty will also speak at the event.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Cllr Conway-Walsh said that for many people in the western counties of Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, and Donegal, "there is no economic recovery".
She said figures from the Western Development Commission show a small jobs growth of 1.4 per cent in the west, compared to 3.9 per cent nationally.
"Many of the jobs being created in the region are part-time as evidenced by the fact that the percentage of those in part-time work in the west has increased from 18.7 per cent in 2007 to 25.7 per cent in 2014," continued Cllr Conway-Walsh.
"The rate of youth unemployment across the west still remains higher than the national average at 29 per cent, with over 7,000 young people across the west signing as jobseekers."
Cllr Conway-Walsh said successive governments had failed to ensure adequate investment in rural communities.
She pointed out that just 11 per cent of IDA visits since 2009 have been to the western region.
Cllr Conway-Walsh said Stand Up For The West aims to address issues affecting rural Ireland, such as broadband investment, LEADER cuts, the challenges facing small businesses and farming families, and infrastructural shortfalls in the region.
"Our campaign is about delivering a new deal for the west," she stated.
"I am calling on individuals, community representatives and the public to come along to the Welcome Inn this Thursday to get behind this campaign and to Stand Up for the West," she concluded.
