Michael Fitzmaurice TD has called on the Government to act on the worsening employment and Infrastructure problems in the West of Ireland.
The Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway said “Ministers in the Government would have people believe that the economy is flying with several job announcements making the headlines in recent months but the reality for many areas of rural Ireland and the Western Region in particular the reality is that no progress is being made and in fact the situation is worsening”.
“Employment figures for the Western region have shown that the end of the first quarter of 2016 there were 6,000 people less employed than was the case at the end of June 2015. Ministers are constantly telling us that the economy is growing by 7% per annum but clearly that is not the case in the West. As a local public representative I know what the reality is on the ground with an inadequate broadband services, poor mobile phone service in many areas, and a lack of basic infrastructure throughout the western region. The new Government will have to wake up and realise the problems that exist in rural areas and instead of hoodwinking the people with talk of a booming economy. They should set about improving the infrastructure in this region and get Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to focus on employment creation in this area” he concluded.