50% Of IDA New Jobs To Go To Objective I Region "Regional Dimension Will Remove Obstacles To Further Growth" - Harney "Greatest Opportunity Since Independence" - Tánaiste "Destiny Now In Our Own Hands"

Speaking at the Regional Consultative Forum in Ballaghaderreen today (Wednesday, 19 January, 2000), Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Mary Harney said that the investment programme set out in the Government's National Development Plan represented this country's greatest opportunity since Independence.

"For perhaps the first time since Independence we have a clear, measured assessment of what needs to be done to ensure continued economic and social progress in Ireland. And, also for the first time since Independence, we have the financial resources to underpin the necessary investment.

"In such circumstances, we can have nobody to blame but ourselves if we do not deliver or if we do not get it right. Our destiny is to a large extent in our own hands and that is why this Government is fully committed to delivering the vision of a new Ireland that is represented in the National Development Plan.

"The Plan envisages a very formidable investment programme.

"In total, some £13.3 billion of the expenditure envisaged under the plan has been earmarked for the Border, Midlands and West. This represents an investment of the order of £14,000 for every man, woman and child in the region. This is almost 30% above that earmarked for the more developed region in the South & East.

"Of that £13.3 billion, a total of £1.7 billion is earmarked for investment in the productive capacity of the region.

"The IDA has for the first time a clear target of ensuring that at least 50% of all jobs from new foreign investment projects will be located in the West.

"As a result of an agreement recently reached with the European Commission in Brussels, we will also be in a position to offer higher levels of support to new business projects in this region than elsewhere in the State.

"These are not the sum total of our objectives. We will also be aiming to enhance and maintain our research and technological development capacity; we will be seeking to improve the performance the indigenous sector; and we will promote investment in tourism, in rural development and in marine activities.

"The Government's commitment to the regional dimension of the National Development Plan is manifest.

"A key objective of the Plan is to enhance the productive capacity of the Border, Midlands and West region and to achieve a better balance in the way that the benefits of our progress are shared among all our people.

"The scale of infrastructural investment in our roads and rail system, which is essential to balanced regional development, represents a challenge. This Government is committed to meeting that challenge head-on. Ireland is a small country and no part of it need be remote. By comparison with other parts of the world, distances in Ireland are not a problem. What is a problem is the time taken to travel them.

"However, by providing first class infrastructural links, we can ensure that no part of the country is more than a few hours from international ports or airports, or, for that matter, from any of the major cities. This will enhance the attractiveness of the region to job-creating activity, for mobile investment, for labour force mobility and for tourism.

"However, Government investment alone cannot ensure success or guarantee prosperity. Much will depend on the quality of the response at local level. A local input will be crucial to success in ensuring that public investment is translated into local prosperity. That transformation cannot be guaranteed only by planners issuing edicts from Dublin. A team effort will be required, including bodies as diverse as the regional assemblies, Government Department and State agencies, County Planning Boards, local development bodies, local authorities and the growing voluntary sector.

"I am confident that the implementation of this Plan will remedy many of the infrastructural, business and environmental deficiencies that only serve to stifle progress. More importantly, it will provide the mechanism by which all the people of Ireland, without exception, can share in our future prosperity.

We all have a lot of work ahead of us but I relish that challenge and look forward to it with enthusiasm."