Comment: Appeal for ‘active discrimination in favour of western region’ is timely

WHEN one of Mayo’s leading and most successful businessmen stands up and tells the head of government, in as nice and polite a way as possible, that long-established State policies are not working to the benefit of provincial counties across the western seaboard, then it’s impossible for the message not to land firmly.

That’s exactly what Owen Hughes, a member of Westport’s outstandingly successful entrepreneurial family, did when he spoke at the official opening of his family’s latest successful venture, The Grace, as An Taoiseach Micheál Martin listened attentively.

Mr. Hughes was merely reflecting a view that many of us have shared for a long time, the fact that the west of Ireland has suffered as a direct result of a disparity and inequality in government funding to the region compared to other parts of the nation, most notably Leinster and Munster.

So Owen Hughes was very much entitled, as a champion for the development of tourism and enterprise in the region, to make the point at a telling moment – and one which Mr. Martin took on board very graciously and with due understanding.

The overriding assertion is that government policy needs to actively discriminate in favour of the western region if it is to unlock its full potential.

Mr. Hughes knows this won’t be achieved without political leadership, so his message was also very much meant for all the other political representatives in the room, gathered for the official opening of Westport’s newest hotel.

Owen’s late father, Padraig, served on the inaugural board of the IDA at a time when the government had a strong regional policy and Mayo benefited from that approach.

Mayo companies like AbbVie (formerly Allergan), Hollister and Baxter (now Vantive) employ over 4,000 people in the county.

In fact, Padraig had pushed the former Westport Urban Council to provide a suitable site for an advance factory in Westport, a property which Allergan first occupied, the company’s arrival very much changing the economic landscape of west Mayo.

It’s been done before and it can be done again.

Counties like Mayo need help – and they need it now – in overcoming challenges like an a deficiency of investment, the lack of housing provision and rural and urban decline, precipitated by widespread emigration.

And Owen Hughes is correct. It won’t happen unless we all put on the green and red jersey and fight for it.