The report of the Western Development Commission (WDC) with its £3.7 billion seven-year plan is an ambitious and well researched document. It proposes radical solutions to chronic problems. Conducted by Indecon Consultants of Galway, the study is focused on the seven western counties for which the WDC is statutorily responsible. But it also presents a blueprint for economic development nationally over the next seven years - with main emphasis on the 13 western, border and midland counties retaining full Objective 1 status after the year 2000.
One of these radical solutions is the recommendation to cut industrial grants for cities to help redress the balance towards development in smaller towns. The report rejects an exclusive city-led basis for economic development, while acknowledging that the industrial focus must be on a limited number of towns. The WDC study backs up its proposals with detailed research. It outlines how IDA policy on industrial development did not deliver in the past, with only 12 of 102 projects in 1997 to 1998 coming to the western region. Five of those projects were in Galway. Other job creation agencies also come in for criticism.
The report says the Government should increase incentives for overseas firms to locate in such towns. But it also acknowledges that the availability of high-skilled local labour is one of the key factors in attracting such industries. The plan highlights the "brain drain" towards the east and puts much emphasis on indigenous resources. It notes that 17 per cent of the region's workforce is dependent on employment in farming, fishing and forestry. Tourism is vital to the west, it notes, but suitable accommodation is a major problem in many counties. Leitrim and Roscommon have just 184 hotel rooms, compared to over 3,000 nationally.
The WDC hopes to initiate some debate, and the consultants' findings are certainly thought-provoking. But much will depend on how the Department of Finance reacts to the submission and how it marries with other reports recently published by the ESRI, IBEC, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and the eight regional authorities. Much will also depend on how the Government handles the establishment of its promised regional structures. Established before this administration came into office, the WDC has already experienced at first hand the Government's tentative approach to regionalisation. Not only was its funding delayed, but the Bill to put it on a statutory funding took far longer than had been anticipated. It is to be hoped that this report does not become another victim of the Government's overly-conservative approach towards regional power.