Neill O’Neill
A long-serving member of Westport Town Council has called on the Government and particularly Minister Eamon Ó Cuív to decentralise the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to Westport.
Cllr Declan Dever’s call comes after An Bord Pleanála reversed the decision of Mayo County Council to grant permission for new Department offices at Knock Airport. The Board’s senior planning inspector, Mr Paul Caprani, suggested that the benefits of decentralisation would be wasted if the new offices were located beside the airport and suggested instead that they would work a lot better if located in Castlebar or Ballina.
But Cllr Dever (pictured), who is expected to be installed as the new Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council this Thursday, said Castlebar and Ballina were already long-time beneficiaries of decentralisation ‘and it’s now the turn of Westport to be included in the decentralisation frame’.
A substantial portion of Minister Ó Cuív’s department is already located in Tubbercurry on a temporary basis and, in light of the refusal of permission for the airport offices, it is certain that a campaign will be mounted locally to make this a permanent arrangement.
Cllr Dever said that, apart from the €55 million drainage scheme and sewerage treatment plant, Westport had gained little from Government largesse in recent years and nothing at all in terms of job creation.
“There are compelling reasons why Westport should be considered as the new location for Department offices. We have an excellent infrastructure, including a new business technology park, good quality housing stock and many fine quality of life facilities. It should also be remembered that when decentralisation was first mooted and civil servants were surveyed on where they would like to locate to in the west a clear majority opted for Westport,” he said.
Cllr Dever said he was aware that Minister Ó Cuív had suggested a modification of the county development plan to facilitate the Knock site “but this could take forever and, if and when that happens, the entire planning process will have to begin again with the likelihood of further appeals and eventual turning down of the Knock site once more. I am appealing to the Government and Minister Ó Cuív to look at Westport instead. It would be a popular location for workers and such a move would be facilitated by Westport Town Council.”
Mr Simon Cronin, President of Westport Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber fully supported Cllr Dever’s call and he hoped there would be a positive response to it.
“The Chamber would cooperate fully with the Town Council and Mayo County Council to facilitate such a development,” he said.
