Dr. Tom McDonnell:

The fall was deeper. It was the second deepest of all the regions.

The Chairman is right that something seems to be happening in the south east in terms of incomes. County Wexford in particular is one of the poorer counties. In a point that also is relevant to the Border counties, what the south east lacks is an economic motor. Obviously, nowhere has anything like Dublin but the south west has Cork, the mid-west has Limerick and the west has Galway. Prospects are fairly bright for each of those three cities and while one can talk about the west and about counties Mayo and Roscommon, at least there is a hub there. The south east does not have that to the same extent. Waterford obviously has been in secular decline for quite some time and certainly does not have the same population as Cork or Limerick. Moreover, it now is behind Galway too.