Vision is not a word which springs to mind in the context of the ongoing debate on regionalisation and the political wheeling and dealing accompanying it. But a woman at the forefront of the debate believes we must ask ourselves this question - what vision do we have for Ireland?
Marian Harkin is the chairwoman of the Council for the West, a voluntary organisation dedicated to promoting economic development in the counties of Connacht and Donegal. It grew from the Developing the West initiative launched by the bishops of the West in 1990. In recent weeks, she has taken on economists and columnists in arguing that the West, Border and Midlands should remain "Objective 1 regions" and receive a higher level of EU structural funding than the rest of the country.
Arguing for balanced regional development, she paints a picture of a state at a crossroads, facing a stark choice. "Do we want an Ireland where most people, the vast majority, live in a couple of very large cities and all development is concentrated there, while the countryside is more and more sparsely populated? Or do we want an Ireland where of course we have our cities, but where there are also vibrant towns and villages supported by rural communities?"
The vibrant towns and villages of her Ireland could not depend completely on agriculture, but would require jobs in manufacturing, services, agri-processing and tourism. Such a scenario would give people a real choice to live in rural or urban Ireland. If current trends continue, she fears more and more people will be forced to live in cities. "If we run down our infrastructure, if we don't give support to rural communities, then they will die and they are dying, and it is a huge policy issue for this country."
The kind of "support" she is speaking of consists not of "cheques in the post", but infrastructure improvements and investment to help create jobs.
Harkin stresses her views are not based on any romantic ideal and she brings little emotion to the argument, preferring instead to quote reports and statistics which illustrate the growing disparities between different parts of the country. Sentiment only enters the argument when she says she really believes rural Ireland is under threat. "I think when it's gone, and it may go, we might look at this and be sorry. Once it's gone, I don't think there is any going back. I don't think you can begin to regenerate a rural area in the way you might an urban area."
Marian Harkin speaks like a woman with a mission, a woman who believes she is living through an important time and that she has a part to play. In her 40s, she exudes energy and matter-of-factness, and gives the impression of someone who can stay for the long haul. Years of fund-raising and lobbying from Sligo to Brussels seem to have fired her further. She'll continue to campaign because she enjoys it and the work is "of value", she says.
A mother of two teenage boys and a maths teacher by profession, she grew up in Ballintogher, Co Sligo. Her husband died two years ago. She became involved in community work some 10 years ago while living in Manorhamilton in Co Leitrim. The population of the whole of north Leitrim, she points out, is 8,500 - the same as the parish of Drimnagh in Dublin.
People felt their very existence was threatened and the area was "crying out" for development. She founded a group which subsequently won a FAS National Award for Community Development. The project focused on rural tourism.
"We were very involved in the community, particularly in trying to put forward a positive image, not to harp on the negatives, but certainly to accept they were there, and to use them when necessary to access the kind of funding we needed."
This is a point she makes repeatedly - she doesn't want to be seen to be complaining and people have been talking for long enough about the problems in rural Ireland. "There are times when I hate to even quote the facts and figures. I don't want to paint the very bleak picture because after a while people get sick of listening - and there's deprivation and poverty and problems everywhere." The Council for the West, she explains, has focused recently on two issues - the retention of Objective 1 status for the West, Border and Midlands regions and getting inward investment. Objective 1 status is important for a number of reasons. It allows higher grant aid for investment from outside (up to 40 per cent), provides greater funding for infrastructure, and permits farmers to receive higher levels of EU support.
She also sees it as "a step towards regionalisation" but says it must be accompanied by new structures. She proposes a regional body based on a model developed in Merseyside in England after the British government identified it as an Objective 1 region. The body comprises representatives of county councils, British and EU civil servants and people from the voluntary and community sector, business and trade unions.
Such a regional structure would be closer to people on the ground and be more accountable. "There should be priorities. Every area wants everything, but no area can have everything and decisions should not be taken ad hoc. They shouldn't be down to whether there's a minister here or there's an influential person there."
She says that in the document agreed between the Government and the EU for the last round of structural funds, the Community Support Framework, there was "no regional dimension at all, no regional objectives" which, she says meant the three poorer regions ended up at an even greater relative disadvantage.
On inward investment, she uses the words "scandalous" and "incredible" to describe the disparities between the different regions. In a year when 14,000 jobs have been created nationally in IDA-backed investments, the three Ulster counties in the Republic have not had even one such project between them.
Maps showing jobs created from IDA start-ups in 1996 and 1997 also reflect the disparity. In both 1996 and 1997 the Ulster tally is zero. When Galway city is excluded from Connacht, its jobs tally in 1996 is zero, and 200 in 1997. Some 10,000 new jobs were created nationally in each of these years.
Harkin says she does not want to criticise the IDA (and that nationally the government and the IDA "are to be congratulated"). However, it is difficult not to read her comments as criticism, especially when she explains why companies are not locating in the west or border regions.
"We believe a lot of it is the mindset. Somebody comes to Dublin to talk to the IDA and they are brought down to Galway and then someone from Galway brings them out to the heart of Mayo and says to them `I don't live here, but this is where you should set up your plant'. It gives the wrong message. It is one stranger talking to another stranger."
She points out that a number of multinationals have been based in the west for many years and suggests retired managers from these companies should be brought in to talk to prospective investors about their experience. Harkin stresses she is not - as one TD once said to her - "expecting the IDA to bring 1,000 jobs to Oughterard". She regrets the "ugly head" of the urban versus rural row has risen. Two years ago, she said that if parts of inner city Dublin came together to put in an application for Objective 1 status, the Council for the West would support such a move. She has held meetings with the Dublin Inner City Partnership and ICTU (Irish Congress of Trade Unions) to try to find common ground.
"We have no monopoly on disadvantage and we are well aware of that. Wherever disadvantage is, it needs to be tackled, whether it's rural or urban. We were making the case for our regions. We were careful not to make little or make less of the case for elsewhere."
She is concerned at the decision by the government to include Clare and Kerry in the new Objective 1 region - which has, she has found, attracted comment in Brussels. "We had a reasonably good chance with the three regions. I am afraid now that the inclusion of Clare and Kerry - while I hope it succeeds - will weaken the case. It is a huge gamble to take, and one we can't afford to lose."
