Madam, - I share your welcome for the recent announcement of 800 jobs for Blanchardstown in Dublin and 300 jobs in Cork (Editorial, September 17th); but I cannot agree with your questioning of the pragmatism of the Government's policy of "pushing investment into the regions".
Ireland's rapid economic development through the 1990s was accompanied by a growing imbalance within and between its regions. In spite of the economic boom, the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) region was deemed to be eligible for Objective One status for structural funds purposes in 1999. This prompted the Irish Government to set balanced regional development as a strategic objective of the current National Development Plan and also led to the development of a National Spatial Strategy (published in November 2002) in order to bring about more balanced economic development and settlement patterns over the next 20 years.
IDA Ireland rightly set itself a target of locating 50 per cent of green-field jobs in the BMW region in 2000. In this context, it is wholly appropriate that IDA Ireland encourages foreign direct investment into the BMW and other regional locations and it has recorded many successes to date in difficult global economic circumstances.
This does not preclude Dublin as a location for inward investment, but is, rather, a concerted effort to achieve genuine balance in the distribution of inward investment in Ireland through the identification of suitable regional locations and offering preferential incentive packages to potential investors. In this regard this assembly has consistently reminded the Government of the necessity to accelerate infrastructure investment in the region to ensure that it remains competitive and attractive to inward investment.
It is indeed ironic that you should suggest the regions should be expected to wait for the economic upturn before seeing any substantial new projects, given the low proportion of such projects which went to the regions at the height of the so-called Celtic Tiger boom.
Many of the consequences of such an approach are clearly visible in the urban sprawl, spiralling house prices and traffic congestion evident in the Greater Dublin area today. It is also ironic that in attempting to address the congestion blackspots in the Greater Dublin area as an immediate priority, insufficient resources are being expended on addressing the infrastructural deficits in the regions, thus rendering the attraction of investment to these areas more difficult for IDA Ireland.
The BMW Regional Assembly believes the current approach in the context of the National Spatial Strategy is the most pragmatic one that will lead to benefits for all parts of Ireland in the long term. - Yours, etc.,
GERRY FINN, Director, BMW Regional Assembly, Ballaghaderreen,
Co Roscommon.