Independent election candidate Ms Marian Harkin has accused the Taoiseach of telling only "half the story" when he quoted figures on employment growth in the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region.
"If the Taoiseach is trying to give the impression the gap between the BMW region and the south and east is closing, the figures flatly contradict him," she said. At the opening of the BMW regional assembly's new offices in Ballaghaderreen last week, Mr Ahern said there was "reason for celebration" and quoted CSO figures which showed that employment in the region grew by 2.8 per cent in 2001 compared with 2.4 per cent in the south and east.
"What the Taoiseach didn't tell us was that according to the same CSO document, unemployment also increased in both regions, by 3,200 in the BMW region and by just 600 in the south and east," she said.
This meant the numbers in employment in the BMW region in 2001 grew by just over 2 per cent while the growth in the south and east was just under 2.2 per cent.
This once again illustrated the widening economic gap between the two regions, she said. "It is at best disingenuous of the Taoiseach to tell only half the story. The everyday reality for people is whether they have a job or not."
Because of the much larger population in the south and east, the actual increase in the numbers in work was three-and-a-half times that of the BMW region - 30,000 compared with 8,000, Ms Harkin said.
These figures "flatly contradicted" Mr Ahern's assertion that employment was "growing far greater" in the BMW region than in the south and east.
Ms Harkin also challenged Mr Ahern over his comment that there was "reason for celebration" because the BMW region had "the fifth highest increase in GDP per capita of all the 211 regions in the EU over the period 1997-99".
She said that while there was "some truth" in this, the reality was that the BMW region was still in the bottom half of all EU regions while the south and east region was in the top 15 per cent.
In 1999, GDP per capita in the BMW region was 83 per cent of the EU average while in the south and east it was 122 per cent of the EU average.
"If we are talking about closing the gap, about balanced economic development, which is a stated Government policy, then it simply is not happening," Ms Harkin said.