Sir, – The proposal in the Fine Gael document to Independent TDs for the development of an “Atlantic Economic Corridor” to “balance the levels of national development in rural areas with those in urban communities” falls well short of the “balanced national development” called for by those who devised that concept.
A policy of “balanced national development” would ensure that all regions have parity and equity with regard to infrastructure, investment and job creation. A “balance of levels of national development” implies that Dublin and Cork will continue to get priority, while other regions, in rural Ireland especially, get the crumbs.
If the poorest parts are finally given a fair chance to catch up the east and south, if they can get the “four-leaf clover” of a decent transport, telecoms, energy and education infrastructure, the difference of emphasis may be a distinction without a difference. But this has all the hallmarks of the dead hand of Civil Service implementation, strangling the best idea yet for treating all regions of the country equally. – Yours, etc,
KEALAN FLYNN,
Galway.