A former chief executive of the IDA has blamed a lack of "coherence" from government for Sligo's failure in the high-tech sector.
Presenting a report on the high proportion of IT graduates from the north-west, Mr Padraic White said Sligo had been identified as a regional growth centre in numerous reports but infrastructure had still not been developed.
"It makes no sense to any serious businessperson that the first flight out of Sligo each day is at 11 a.m. - and that makes a statement. The traditional woeful state of the train service also makes a statement," he said.
The town had "not yet achieved the critical breakthrough in terms of high-tech industries" and was relying on engineering and healthcare companies, in place since the 1970s and 1980s. This was despite the commitment of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland.
He said he knew that practically every IDA itinerary over recent years had included Sligo but no company had set up there. Meanwhile, towns such as Cavan, Longford and Letterkenny have been successful.
Mr White, who was chief executive of the IDA in the 1980s, praised the development of the Institute of Technology in Sligo but said there was "a failure to put the different pieces together" and there was "a need for greater coherence in infrastructural development".
He added: "There is a need for coherence in decision-making within government so that all the elements are put in place."
Mr White, who is a native of Co Leitrim, was speaking as chairman of the recruitment group Collins McNicholas which has produced a report tracking IT graduates by their home address. It shows that qualified people would be available to any high-tech company in the north-west.
The region is producing more IT graduates than Dublin, Cork and Galway.
Mr Niall Murray, also of Collins McNicholas, said there were no job opportunities for IT graduates within a 30mile radius of Sligo.
The Institute of Technology, which will produce 160 people with IT qualifications this year, collaborated on the report.
The analysis of students graduating from all colleges in the State with information technology qualifications, in the four years up to 2003, found that per head of population the north-west will produce nearly double the national average.
Tracking all students by home address, it found that the numbers graduating with an IT qualification will increase by 23 per cent over these four years but the rate of increase among those from the north-west will be 76 per cent.
Mr White said the key asset of any region was its young people and these were a natural resource that should be available to incoming or developing industry.
The study found that in the four years up to 2003, 10.6 per cent of all certificate, diploma and degree IT graduates will originate from the north-west region. A total of 69,026 graduates will qualify in the State and 6,271 of these will be from the north-west.
The report concluded that the key advantage the region offered companies was "the chance to develop a stable workforce and avoid excessive staff turnover" and said the challenge for companies was to reverse the "brain drain".
Mr White said Collins McNicholas strongly supported the proposal from the Institute of Technology in Sligo to the NCEA to offer a B.Sc in computing, specialising in Web development. He said this would help "propel the region into a higher level of sophistication in the eyes of emerging e-commerce companies".