Harkin hopes Government took note of lack of infrastructure during Sligo visit
INDEPENDENT MEP Marian Harkin says the government will have have seen or themselves, the “tragic evidence” of what she called “government failure” to provide a safe road to the area.
Ms Harkin made the comments following the government’s recent cabinet meting which took place at IT Sligo.
She said she hoped that the ministers had taken note of the roadside crosses on the N4 which dot the route, indicating ten fatalities and a total of 240 casualties which have taken place in recent years.
Ms Harkin called on the cabinet to reflect on the failure to provide a safe route to Sligo which she said had “grave human outcomes as well as causing economic disadvantage”.
She commented: “This loss of life has occurred under different administrations, and successive National Plans, and represents unacceptable failure by all government parties.
“What was common to all governments concerned was to make numerous commitments to balanced regional development and, in particular, to deliver the quality of road to Sligo necessary to increase safety and assist the ability of the region to compete for jobs.
“Taoisigh John Bruton, Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny made numerous commitments to balanced regional development, but in twenty-four years of promises it has not happened”, she continued.
“Neither has the full commitment of numerous political party members in power to deliver a competitive road to Sligo been met and the latest published draft plan reinforced discrimination against Sligo and the entire north west.”
She continued: “Back in 1994, John Bruton, the then Taoiseach, launched the Western De- velopment Partnership Board in Athenry, with a promise of significant resources, a fraction of which was delivered.”
Ms Harkin also recalled the last time the cabinet came to the west in 2000, to Ballaghaderreen when then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said his government were ‘determined to end the regional imbalances that have disfigured modern Ireland’.
She said: “In launching the 2007-2013 NDP, Mr Ahern said that by ensuring that the National Spatial Strategy was fully reflected in implementation of that plan, we would achieve balanced regional development, which was crucial to our ability to absorb the huge population growth predicted over the next twenty years.
“The lip service commitment to balanced regional development was made every few years and perhaps the reason why the present cabinet met in Sligo, was to offset the strong reaction to the latest draft plan in the north west”, she concluded.