Government accused as Clare fears loss of regional status

The Government has been accused of mishandling Ireland's application for regionalisation following yesterday's negative response from Eurostat to the inclusion of Clare and Kerry in any future Objective 1 region.

The Clare Fine Gael TD, Mr Donal Carey, said last night that the application had been made in a slipshod manner, and the Government's carelessness had come home to roost. Mr Carey said: "It is a very bad day for Clare. The news has come as a great blow. While there is prosperity in the middle corridor between Ennis and Limerick, there is huge depopulation in western and eastern parts of the county."

He suggested that instead of allowing a level playing pitch to exist between the east and west coasts the Government should tilt the pitch in favour of the west coast because of the handicaps it suffered due to its peripherality. The chairman of Clare County Council, Mr P.J. Kelly, said: "If funding does not come from Brussels, it must come from Dublin."

Mr Kelly, who said last November that Clare's last-minute inclusion in the application averted a local Fianna Fail revolt, said last night: "It is a complete disaster for Clare. It is in Dublin's interest that the west is kept vibrant because to a degree the solution to the east coast's growing traffic and housing problems lies in the west coast. People cannot keep gravitating towards the east coast. The future of the west coast must be sustained." The chairman of Clare IFA, Mr James Neylon, expressed "deep disappointment" at Clare's omission. He asked: "How is the Government going to subsidise the monies lost in EU grants to farmers - that is now our primary concern. It will now be more profitable to be farming in Galway than Clare."

The chairman of Kilrush Urban District Council, Mr Tom Prendeville, who has long championed the cause of the depopulated areas of west Clare said yesterday: "Today's news represents a further nail in the coffin for west Clare. The place is becoming a wilderness through population decline . . . The industrial base of the area has been almost eliminated. Schools, small shops are closing, with everything moving towards the centre.

"It would be very hard to convince someone who is familiar with west and north Clare that it is not worthy of Objective 1 status. There is a huge imbalance between these areas and the urban centres." The loss of Objective 1 status will also have implications for industry in Clare, where grant aid will be half of what it will be in the Objective 1 region.

Shannon Development, the body responsible for industrial growth in the county, declined to comment on yesterday's reports, preferring to wait to find out why Clare has been omitted.