A Cheann Comhairle, I am grateful to you for the opportunity of raising this very important matter on the Adjournment, namely, the decision by the Independent Estimates Review Committee to propose, selectively, the elimination of the Western Development Commission. I cannot understand this decision, taken by these unwise men from the east. They are certainly not bearing gifts like the original three wise men: rather, poisoned daggers to try to finish off the west once and for all. We have come to expect no great gifts from the east. Centralised Government and party politics over the years have ensured that we only got the crumbs. Even in the national development plan we lagged behind, and the Fitzpatrick report points this out very clearly.
The future of our young people depends on the areas becoming competitive so that they can find work locally. Professor Seamus Caulfield's work on the census figures shows that west and north Mayo are the most economically deprived areas of Ireland. They should be a high priority. Yet we should not be surprised at the actions and recommendations of these so-called independent experts. By their fruits ye shall know them, and they have not changed their spots. It is telling that in describing their guiding principles this anti-west trio said, "In framing proposals we made every effort to identify lower priority programmes that could be abolished in a short timeframe but the reality is that few programmes readily fit into this category." Yet they had no difficulty in finding that the Western Development Commission fitted their criterion very well.
It is not surprising, for those who have seen over the years the disregard for the west shown by Governments and senior public servants, to find that these three former top civil servants regard the main development agency for the west as a low-priority programme. This is the public manifestation of the private policy operated by Governments since the Western Development Commission was formed, which put every single possible obstacle in its way to prevent it from doing the job for which it was established. This very policy, which led to the resignation of the chief executive of the commission, continues to insult the members of that board and its staff.
The Western Development Commission was announced in January 1997. In February 1999 it got its statutory standing and only recently, three years later, did it get its staff. It has done great work. Twenty-nine projects have been evaluated at a total cost of €11.8 million. Last July a review was arranged, which turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Contempt was shown for the good work of the commission. The reduction of the western development fund – the life blood of the region – by 68% was a clear indication of a death wish for the commission within the Government. The fund consisted initially of €127 million over five years. It was then reduced, unbelievably, to €32 million and this has now been cut by a dramatic 68%. We were always bedevilled by lack of resources for our infrastructure development, but this is the coup de grâce, delivered to the one agency with ringfenced funding for the west.
I call on the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, to come clean immediately on the proposal to abolish the Western Development Commission and to clarify whether he made this proposal to the review committee or agreed with its contention that the commission is a low priority today. What were the grounds for its abolition? According to the report, the three most unwise men felt that the activities of the commission overlapped with those of the county enterprise boards, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Enterprise Ireland. This is tommyrot – bruscar. Enterprise Ireland is a national organisation which targets high-potential start-up projects with the growth potential to export in three years. Very few indigenous west of Ireland enterprises fall into that category. We all know that Údarás na Gaeltachta is a national body located and operated in Irish-speaking areas. What about the county enterprise boards? There is no duplication of roles there. The Western Development Commission co-ordinates on matters which can be best dealt with on a regional basis, such as renewable energy.
The Minister is due to launch an important telecoms report on Monday next for the Western Development Commission. I ask him to take this opportunity to meet the board and explain what he is doing. Will he respond to the report they sent to him in the context of the review he is conducting, or has he already decided the outcome as was perhaps indicated in the remarkable statement by Senator Paschal Mooney last night when he said the Western Development Commission should be abolished? Does the Minister agree with Senator Mooney or will he denounce his intervention which pre-judges the outcome of the latest Government study?
