The counties of the midlands and the south-east are the new "disadvantaged" areas in the State because of the drop in economic performance there, a Teagasc rural development conference in Tullamore heard yesterday.
Mr David Meredith, of the agriculture and food development authority's rural economy research centre, said that in contrast, the border and western counties had maintained economic performance. They were now, he said, significantly ahead of the midlands and south-east in terms of economic performance.
He told the conference that household income in the midlands and south-east was estimated to be below 85 per cent of the national average for household income in the State.
"In the border and western counties household incomes are between 85 per cent and 90 per cent of the national average, so the counties of the midlands and south-east are now emerging as the new disadvantaged areas in Ireland."
He said an indication of the contrasting fortunes could be seen in the income figures in Waterford and Limerick between 1995-2001. These showed that income per person in Waterford fell by 4 per cent, while in Limerick income per person increased by 6 per cent relative to the national average.
He said there were similar comparisons to be made between the performances of Wexford and Clare in the same period, where the Wexford household income declined by 4 per cent to 83 per cent of national average, while the national average in Clare remained static at 91 per cent of national average.
Mr Meredith said the distance from what he termed "the core", which in Ireland normally meant the distance from Dublin, did not necessarily mean poorer economic development.
"Neither do better natural resources, especially for agriculture, and, in the case of Wexford, a more favourable location, guarantee better economic performance.
"Wexford has a higher dependence on agriculture and associated processing activities. Contracting employment in this sector has not been off-set by sufficient investment in the non-agricultural sectors. Clare, by contrast, has engaged more actively with 'new economy' enterprises with their related requirements for skilled labour and professional services."
He said the difference in economic performance between the two counties was exemplified in the level of job creation both from domestic and foreign enterprises over the 1991-2000 period.
There were also, he said, substantial differences in the composition of what he termed "human capital" between the two counties as represented by the levels of education.
Of those who had ceased full-time education, 32 per cent of those in Clare were in education at the age of 20 and upwards compared to 23 per cent in Wexford.
"These differences are reflected in the composition of each county's labour force.Clare's labour force contains higher proportions of professional, managerial and technical workers, and a lower percentage of semi and unskilled workers.
"For example, the growth in employment in foreign enterprises in the mid-west was 68 per cent compared with only 14 per cent for the south-east region.
"The urban structure in the mid-west, with one major centre, appears to be more conducive to developing contemporary knowledge-based enterprises than the more dispersed urban pattern in the south-east."
However, Mr Meredith said, it also had to be pointed out that population reductions in parts of west Clare indicated that balanced county development had not taken place, and this had implications for the manner in which the National Spatial Strategy could be articulated.