EU downgrades the west of Ireland to ‘a region in transition’

INVESTMENT IS NEEDED QUICKLY  Mayo County Council Chief Executive didn’t mince his words at last week’s monthly meeting of the local authority.  Pic: Alison Laredo

Chief Executive calls for investment after EU downgrades west as ‘a region in transition’

Anton McNulty
Castlebar

THE Chief Executive of Mayo County Council has called for investment into the western region to be pushed ‘ahead of the queue’ after the region was downgraded to a ‘region in transition’.
The call by Peter Hynes came after it emerged that the EU Commission confirmed that the west and north-west region had been re-categorised into a ‘region in transition’ when applying for funding from 2020. The whole of the country had been categorised as a ‘developed region’ but now this status will only apply to the south and east regions.
The matter was raised at last week’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council by Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray who feared that without critical infrastructure investment, the region will continue to decline economically.
In response, Peter Hynes, the Chief Executive of Mayo County Council described the region’s downgrade as a ‘backward slide’.
“We are now for the first time in two decades gone back to a region in transition. That is a backward slide for this region and is something we need to highlight and is something that needs investment to correct. Investment ahead of the economic case, investment ahead of the queue and investment as quickly as can be pushed. It is something that everyone can get behind,” Mr Hynes said.

Two-tier
Cllr Murray who is a member of the Committee of the Regions, an EU advisory body composed of local and regional elected representatives, said the downgrade confirms that Ireland has a two-tier economy. The Charlestown-based councillor claimed this was a result of the failure of successive Irish governments to invest in critical infrastructure west of the Shannon.
“The EU last week formally classified the west of Ireland as a region in transition and they stated quite categorically that we were moving towards objective one status again. That has put up all sorts of flags in Europe and unless there is a significant investment in critical infrastructure we will find ourselves back where we were in the 70s and 80s,” he said.
Cllr Murray said that the failure to invest in rural regions was not just an Irish problem but a failure of a number of European governments. He called on the Irish government to avail of ‘generous co-funding options’ from the EU and invest in critical infrastructure in the west.
“Though the new transition classification will mean better EU co-funding rates for the west of Ireland, the reality is that successive governments have failed to nominate critical infrastructure projects in the west, even in circumstances where in excess of 50 percent matching funding would be available from the EU.
“Tourism, CAP and Leader will not reverse rural decline; forestry, industrial wind farms and greenways are not the answer. National governments must stop discriminating against our regions and embark on a major extensive multi billion infrastructural investment plan. That is the only strategy that can save rural Ireland and rural Europe, that is the only strategy that will deliver a sustainable future for the west of Ireland,” he said.