Mr. William Parnell:

I will explain. The Atlantic economic corridor is a broader concept. It does not involve specific programmes. The concept for it emerged from the chambers of commerce along the western region. The idea was to develop a proposition of scale that would act as a counterbalance to the east coast. It is really about connecting all the economic hubs along the western region, all the way from Kerry up to Donegal, in order that a cohesive and critical mass is created to attract investment. For example, rather than Limerick trying to market itself as the place in which to invest and Galway separately trying to do the same, the idea was to create this critical mass of different centres that are all connected. As for trade possibilities, the corridor has two universities and a number of institutes of technology. The idea is to harness all the capital that is there, whether human capital or infrastructural assets, to attract people to live, work and invest along the corridor. It is very much a high-level branding of the region, one might say, but it is supported by a number of practical projects, such as the creation of a network of connected remote working hubs. The Western Development Commission has a role in helping the Department to co-ordinate all the different projects and initiatives taking place there. One of the initiatives, for example, apart from the remote working hubs I have mentioned, was a submission to the European Commission on the trans-European transport network, TEN-T, corridor, putting forward the point of view of all the interested stakeholders along the western region. It is very much a regional approach that is taken to co-ordination by the WDC rather than the WDC being a repository for individual projects. As I said, the likes of the local development companies, the LEADER programme and the local enterprise offices would be the appropriate places to go to in order to find information on various schemes that might be available to support individual projects or ideas.