`Once people moved to England, then to Dublin, but now they are moving to Castlebar and Ballina." So says Tim Quinn, a Mayo councillor, who believes a new form of "centralisation" is taking place in rural Ireland, and poses threats to smaller surrounding communities.
Mr Quinn, manager of Erris Co-op in North Mayo and a member of Udaras na Gaeltachta, made the point last month. Castlebar, the county town, is the obvious example. While the recent National Economic and Social Council report cited Mayo as one of four western counties suffering from under-development, Castlebar bucks the trend.
To all appearances the town is thriving at the expense of other local areas. It houses the council offices and the county hospital, and it has been selected as a civil servant training centre and a fire service co-ordination centre.
Castlebar also recently secured a £1 million investment technology prize for second place in the Telecom Information Age competition. It has a regional technical college and two plans from private individuals for separate multiplex cinemas in the town have been approved.
Meanwhile, the publication of the NESC report as the Dail began its Christmas recess has also generated local resistance.
Some public figures have described it as a Government ploy to continue sweeping these poorer areas under the carpet. A separate demand for the designation of the Connacht/ Ulster region as an EU Objective 1 area after 1999, to ensure that all EU funding after that date is concentrated in the region, is also gaining momentum.
The thriving Irish economy has put paid to the possibility of the whole of Ireland being further designated as an Objective 1 (poorer region). However, lobbyists in Connacht/Ulster have long held the belief that the EU funds secured on their backs have been plundered by successive governments to help the east grow at the expense of the west.
Already, a proposal to stage a major one-day conference to hammer out a new strategy for securing funds for the Connacht/Ulster region has been taken on board by development groups, local authorities and politicians, who are all pledging their support to the campaign. As evidence of continuing decay within the smaller towns and villages increases, the message from lobbyists is clear.
They demand the same quality of life, access to services and facilities as are available along the east coast and in larger urban areas.