Bord Snip ‘silly and shortsighted’ – David McWilliams

Bord Snip ‘shortsighted’ – McWilliams


Aine Ryan

‘Silly and short-sighted’ is how leading economist David McWilliams has dubbed the Bord Snip Nua recommendation to close the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
In an exclusive interview with The Mayo News yesterday, he said: “I think it is very silly and short-sighted [to close O’Cuiv’s department]. While obviously there has to be significant cuts in our budgets, the idea of closing entire departments seems regressive. Better to freeze or cut pay for a while than close down departments.”
However, he has also warned that much of the agricultural land zoned for development during the boom will be thrown into NAMA and have no more value than a cow grazing it. 
Despite that, the bestselling author and broadcaster, has predicted the future is bright for County Mayo due to its abundance of natural resources key to the necessary development of our indigenous industries of agriculture and tourism.
“I think that we should be very optimistic about the West of Ireland as the two industries which will still be standing in Ireland are the food and the tourism industries and the West has it all in this regard, particularly tourism,” said McWilliams.
“These are now Ireland’s two biggest indigenous industries and I feel the growth potential here is enormous and they are sustainable, that is they can’t up and leave because of a changed tax break or a banking collapse,” he continued.
“Also the level of education achievement is actually higher in the West than in Dublin for example, this must also stand to the West in the years ahead,” McWilliams added.
Responding to a question about the imminent impact of the energy crisis on the global economic recovery, McWilliams agreed that ‘the next spike up in energy prices will be so dramatic that we will all change the way we live and proximity will become the watchword for the way we live’.
He also said that ‘planning was a hugely contentious issue’ with upcoming serious implications.
“Think about what happened in the boom, councils competed to get as much planning passed as possible so that they could get the money in fees. Now we have far too much zoned land that no one wants.”
He continued:  “And this causes so much money to be funneled into these projects and many of these lands, fields, will be thrown into NAMA and has no more value on them then the price you’d get to have a cow grazing on the field.”
Regarding a question about the controversial Corrib gas project and  government’s terms for the exploitation and development of offshore natural resources in comparison to the favourable terms in Norway, David McWilliams argued that the presence of such companies should be viewed ‘as an opportunity [and] not a threat’.
“The huge difference between us and the Norwegians is that the Norwegian State owns the oil companies and the revenues go directly into a fund for future generations of Norwegians.
“They have the technology and the capital to drill, we don’t and are therefore always at a disadvantage,” he explained.
“But clearly, it is commonsense to try to get the best deal we can. Until we have a State oil company, which does not make sense unless there is a huge find, we will have to be clever in negotiations with the big oil companies but we should also welcome them and their presence as an opportunity not a threat.”