The Council for the West has been urged to convene a meeting of the economic and social interests of the West of Ireland to agree a common approach to the Government in relation to future road and rail investment in the region.

In a letter to the Council’s Chairman, Sean Hannick, Independent MEP Marian Harkin has stressed the need for the economic and social interests of the region to be brought together to organise a united approach to Government on it’s future investment programme.  “Organisations in the Dublin area are very active in driving the campaign for exceptional investment in light rail while the Minister for Transport is fully supportive of transport investment in the greater Dublin area”, she said.

On the other hand the Chairman of the Government’s new ‘An Bord Snip’ was already on the record as dismissing the case for the western rail corridor, she said.  “The West and other regions faced with a Dublin dominated ‘An Bord Snip’ reporting to a Government whose track record is a refusal to deliver balanced regional development, must immediately make it clear that continued discrimination against the West will no longer be tolerated”, she said.

The challenge existed now to the economic and social interests in the West to come together to challenge the continued eastern focus of Government investment, 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 it’s ability to compete eroded through lack of Government commitment to balanced regional development”, she said.