Search Results for 'Council for the West'

The Council for the West has once again raised concerns about the future of the Western Development Commission (WDC), which it sees as vital to the future well-being of the Western Region.

The Council for the West, which campaigns on socioeconomic issues in the west of Ireland, has expressed its concern about the number of people who will be living in the greater Dublin area in the future and the effect it will have on the west of Ireland. The organisation has called on the Government to examine how sensible it is for the country to have 2.5 million people living within the greater Dublin area within the next 15 years. Commenting on recent research by urban economist Brian Hughes, a member of the Government’s own expert group on population projections, which shows that by around 2070 more than half of Ireland’s population will be living in the greater Dublin area, the council said the trend was for more urbanisation, but it questioned whether a ‘city state’ is the best or only policy to be pursued willy-nilly.

The Council for the West— a voluntary, independent, non-political lobby group — is to continue to fight for the retention of the Western Development Commission following what it termed a “positive meeting” with Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Pat Carey in Dublin this week.,

It will be back to donkeys and carts in Ballina and north Mayo given the decision by An Bord Pleanála last week to refuse permission for the N26 Ballina to Bohola road.

The Council for the West has rejected as “out of order” any Government moves to subsume the Western Development Commission into Enterprise Ireland.

The response to the Government’s announcement last week that a new community forum is to be established to tackle the long-running Corrib gas saga has been received positively, although Shell to Sea have yet to release a statement on the matter.

Speaking this week following a meeting with the Council for the West and the Oireachtas Liaison Committee, Sinn Féin regional development spokesperson Senator Pearse Doherty has called on the Government to keep its hands off the Western Development Commission (WDC).

The Council for the West has been urged to convene a meeting to bring together the social and economic interests of the region. The purpose of this is to present a united approach to the Government in relation to future road and rail investment in the west of Ireland.

In the midst of this depressing time in Irish history, there was one good news story this week. The announcement that farmers and householders who generate their own electricity can now sell it back to the national grid is a welcome development.

The Council for the West has again called for a shake-up of the planning laws of the country which, it says, are counter-productive to rural development and sustainability. The council made its first call for a more sensible approach to planning three years ago following objections to two planned developments, in Boyle, County Roscommon, and in Rossinver village in Co Leitrim. Upwards of 600 jobs and inward investment were lost.