BMW area 'falling further behind'

The Council for the West is to seek a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern this week after he said the Border, midlands and west (BMW) region had fared better than other regions from the economic boom.

The voluntary lobby group yesterday expressed surprise that the Taoiseach and some colleagues "seem unaware that the west is falling further and further behind the east and south region in the economic boom".

Speaking in the Dáil recently, Mr Ahern said the BMW region had fared best "according to all analyses, in terms of employment, investment and other areas".

He hoped that the improvements could be maintained in the next National Development Programme from 2007-2013.

Seán Hannick, Council for the West chairman, said the GDP of the BMW region was 92 per cent of the EU average while the east and south regions had a GDP of 149 per cent.

He said it was unbelievable that the Taoiseach's understanding of the position would be "so wildly at variance with the facts".

"The latest figures show that the average GDP per inhabitant in the most affluent part of the country was €38,778, while the figure in the west is €24,025 - a gap of more than €13,000.

"Despite our constant drawing of attention to the diverging economies in this country and our campaign for a fair share for the west, the message is not getting through to Mr Ahern and some of his Ministers."

Mr Hannick said attention had often been drawn to the fact that the BMW region was €3.65 billion behind in commitments under the National Development Plan.

He added that tourism and roads allocations were also lagging. "Yet, it seems either the Government is not listening or we are not shouting loudly enough."

He said there was no question that he was manipulating figures to suit his case as the statistics came directly from the State and the EU Commission.

Mr Hannick said the Council for the West would write to Mr Ahern this week to seek a meeting with him so that he could be briefed on the reality of the situation.

"Maybe that is the only way to get through to Government who need to listen to this side of the country too."