EMPOWERMENT and the participation of local communities are key themes in a £200 million plan for western development to be launched later today by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton.
The plan covers Connacht and Cos Donegal and Clare and is called The Challenge: A Positive Future Through Action. It was drawn up by the Western Development Partnership Board, set up by Government in April 1994 in response to the Developing The West Together Initiative.
The cynicism many will feel at yet another plan to "save the west" is addressed in its preface signed by the board's chairman, Mr Michael Farrell.
"The production of this action plan represents an end to the need to repeatedly state and restate the region's problems: emigration, depopulation, unemployment etc," he says.
"It should, in the short and medium term, represent an end to of need to produce other reports of a similar character. It should represent an end to inaction."
The plan calls for a clearly defined regional policy and a 20 year commitment from Government "to firm and positive action to level the playing field in economic and social development".
Its key proposals are a Western Development Commission with executive powers and a Western Investment Fund to stimulate growth. The investment fund will have £200 million available to it by 2000. The money will be used to help small and medium sized enterprises get off the ground.
As the funds invested in one project are repaid the money will be reinvested in new projects on a continuing basis. This could have a significant impact, as community development groups have long complained that the lack of initial capital funding is the single biggest obstacle to development.
The commission will become "a powerhouse of regional economic and social energy and will provide a unique exercise in defining regional policy in Ireland".
It will be incorporated as a legal entity reporting to the Department of the Taoiseach with "a straight line communication" to local development groups.
Its task will be the implementation of the action plan. "In this regard, its role will be conditioned by existing policies that are relevant to a greater or lesser extent, to the issues and problems in the region and the agencies that have responsibility for implementing these policies.
"While the development of the region will be dependent on wider economic and social forces, national policies should be developed that will address the particular concerns of regions such as the west."
Another key recommendation concerns the way resources are allocated to the regions by Government. It says the present policy of allocating them on a per capita basis should be "set aside" for the 20 year development period. Instead, discussions on resource allocation should be based on "accurate statistical information, particularly as regards income levels, compiled on a county by county basis"
The plan poses major challenges to the people of the western region and to the Government. Changes of attitudes are a priority and a necessary forerunner to successful action.
"The need to address the vexed question of population dispersal and settlement patterns in the country as a whole is central to his plan. Government policies in a variety of areas of development should be underpinned with a commitment to the equitable distribution of population."
It says the case for "real cohesiveness" is justified on many grounds, not the least of which is social justice. "Real cohesiveness an only be achieved if the per capita system of evaluation is set aside for the next 20 years. This, together with the avoidance of strict adherence to an economic rate of return for assessing state support for private and public developments and services is essential to change the present impasse of population agglomeration.
"There is a trade off to be made between the costs of sustaining the exponential and unhealthy growth of the east of the country and the cost of providing adequate infrastructure to disperse population throughout the regions. The realisation of this trade off must be matched by political courage and goodwill to begin the long process of change."
Elsewhere in the plan the backdrop of social deprivation, economic decline and depopulation in the west is described.
"The region has lost 10 per cent of its population in the past 40 years, whereas the remainder of the country has gained 28 per cent in population. The regional trend however, masks considerably greater decline in the most marginal and deprived areas of the region where in some instances hundreds of townlands or almost entire communities have disappeared and continue to disappear.
"It is fully recognised that much of the region suffers from many economic, physical and locational disadvantages. These include large areas of difficult land resources, a huge dependence on small scale agriculture, a natural terrain which constitutes barriers to transport and increases in access costs.
"Yet the region has many advantages, not least its diverse industrial base; outstanding natural and scenic attractions; its historic and cultural heritage; its clean environment; its potential to produce high quality farm, forestry and fishery produce and the resilience, vision and skills of its population and work force."
The region can overcome its disadvantages with the "full commitment" of its people and the support of Government, it says.
"What we seek from national Government is a clearly defined regional policy which recognises these constraints and thus allows reasonable access to opportunities for development".