The countryside around the Corrib, Mask and Carra lakes in south Mayo and north Galway is among the most scenic and unspoilt in the west. It is also an area of high unemployment and emigration: the combined population of the 27 communities which live around the lakes fell by 9.9 per cent between 1986 and 1996.
A new initiative, called the Lake District Enterprise, aims to combat these problems by linking the communities in a self-help network to create jobs and stimulate enterprise.
Introduced last month at a packed public meeting in Ballinrobe, the LDE has already succeeded in forging new links between communities divided by ancient rivalries.
It is one of a number of similar enterprise groups around the State set up under the auspices of the Enterprise Trust, an initiative set up by the four employer organisations through Partnership 2000.
The groups are linked to each other and a national network of "patron" companies through the Enterprise Trust, but the idea behind the scheme is to help the communities to help themselves.
"What we're trying to do is to foster a culture of enterprise, whether it is private, co-operative or community-based enterprise," according to LDE's spokesman, Mr John Daly.
"Rather than waiting for Government or semi-state agencies to drive the process, this is driving the process from the ground up," he says.
A disincentive to community development is the often interminable round of committee meetings which usually accompany such endeavours. The LDE aims to side-step this process by adopting some of the non-hierarchical business structures which are becoming increasingly popular in the United States.
It hopes to appoint a facilitator next month who will network between the different groups and communities involved and serve as a focal point for the exchange of ideas and information.
Teams will be set up for specific projects, but the LDE aims to avoid the proliferation of committees and subcommittees which normally accompany voluntary work.
"How these networks work is you appoint a facilitator or manager to act as the hub, and you encourage people to join as members.
"They pay a subscription and that organisation then takes care of encouraging people to get their ideas off the ground and establish businesses," Mr Daly says.
One of the facilitator's first tasks will be to draw up a five-year development plan for tourism, agriculture and industry projects, in conjunction with community interests.
The LDE also hopes to help entrepreneurs navigate through the oceans of red tape created by the myriad of existing developmental organisations.
It will be a formidable task for a region that is served by two county councils, Udaras na Gaeltachta and Forbairt, not to mention various county enterprise boards, area partnership boards and Leader groups.
"Within the 27 different communities there are probably half a dozen different tourism organisations or groups. What we are about is not replacing or undermining those existing local groups. The analogy we use is we're the `folder' that all their brochures can fit into," he says.
The LDE also submitted an application under Telecom Eireann's Information Age Town project. Although the application was unsuccessful, it helped bring the communities together, according to Mr Daly. The LDE crossed out the word "town' on the application form, and put the word "region" in its place.