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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Jun 1994

Vol. 444 No. 6

Written Answers. - Minister for the West Proposal.

Enda Kenny

Ceist:

78 Mr. E. Kenny asked the Taoiseach if the Government has given consideration to the allocation to one Minister of special responsibility for development of the west of Ireland and to the establishment of a western development board, as recommended in the report, Developing the West Together; and, if so, the outcome of that consideration.

As I stated on 16 February the Government has decided that it would not be appropriate to have a Minister for the west in view of the functional rather than geographical basis for ministerial responsibility.

As I indicated yesterday, the Government has accepted in full the recommendations of the task force set up to process quickly the reportA Crusade for Survival. In particular, the Government has now agreed terms of reference for the now board and nominees have been obtained from county enterprise boards, Leader groups, area partnership companies and the Forum Group in Connemara. The board membership will include representatives of the social partners and the State development agencies. In total there will be 14 members including the chairperson.
The process of establishing the Western Development Partnership Board and appointing members is, then, virtually completed. It will be finalised later this week and the inaugural meeting of the board will take place early in July.
The strategic focus of the board will be to provide direction to the activities of the various public agencies and community based organisations involved in economic development in the west and to do this through an action plan to be compiled and published within 12 months. I am satisfied that the new board will be fully representative and that it will play a key role in enhancing the development of the west.
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