High levels of unemployment on both sides of the Border in the north-west, often hidden in ever-improving jobs statistics from Dublin and Belfast, is one of the main issues a new cross-Border development centre will aim to address.
As pointed out by the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU), this week's quarterly national household survey, which reported a 6.3 per cent increase in employment in the Republic, also showed that in Border counties the rate of unemployment is more than twice that of Dublin. The Border region, at 8.5 per cent, has the highest level in the State.
This situation is mirrored in the North, with Strabane experiencing a male unemployment rate of over 16 per cent, which is only slightly higher than in Derry city.
Mr Paul Cavanagh of the North West Community Network said that while unemployment was falling generally in the North, it was worrying that over the past three months, levels had remained static in areas such as Strabane and Derry.
"Just as people in Donegal say they are not benefiting from the Celtic Tiger, the boom in the North as a result of the peace process and after the election of the Labour government hasn't been seen in the northwest," he said. Mr Cavanagh said the problems of unemployment and poverty would be a focus for Three Rivers House, a base for the Cross-Border Community Development Project, which opened in Lifford last week. It is the first cross-Border community information and development centre.
Mr Cavanagh said a different approach needed to be taken in tackling the problems of the north-west or it would be a region that always lost out.
Three years of work on an integrated area plan had concluded that the region should be regarded as one socio-economic unit, not for any political reason, but purely to try to bring poverty levels down. He said a cross-sectoral body should also be established, as there was a need for greater autonomy in the region.
The possibility of having the Industrial Development Board in the North and the IDA working together rather than competing for foreign investment was one issue they would call to the attention of policy-makers.