There will be a heavy emphasis on developing Ireland outside the major cities in the National Development Plan which will be published later this month, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said yesterday. At the National Ploughing Championships, she reaffirmed the Government's commitment to the development of rural Ireland. At the closing ceremony she said 1,000 people were now coming to live in Ireland each week, and of these half were Irish-born.
Ireland was creating 1,000 jobs a week and building 1,000 houses a week, creating a city the size of Cork every year, but despite that there was lopsided development in the State.
"We must make sure, however, despite the prosperity, that life in rural Ireland is enhanced in that kind of economic scenario. That will mean developing the infrastructure in the regions," she said.
"You will see when the National Development Plan is published later in October that there will be a very heavy emphasis on the rest of Ireland, not just Dublin or the major cities."
On the world trade agreement, she said she was aware of the problems free trade created for agriculture and there would be a need for interim arrangements.