Beverley Flynn (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

It is with regret I raise this matter following the announcement of the loss of 100 jobs at Contact Partners call centre in Castlebar, County Mayo, earlier this week. Unfortunately, this comes after the announcement of job losses at Allergan a number of months ago and at Volex last year. Job creation has been a bad news story in Castlebar and County Mayo generally. The recent jobs losses have had serious social and economic consequences for the town, even though it is designated a hub town in the national spatial strategy, as are Ballina and Westport.

Recently, the House debated the national development plan and, in particular, the underspend in the BMW region. I met IDA Ireland representatives subsequently to discuss job creation and what the authority was doing to attract industry into County Mayo but, disturbingly, I was informed that the greatest obstacle to attracting investors is the inadequate infrastructure and, in particular, the quality of the N5. This is sad given that during the first four years of the NDP, 2000-04, only 54% of the money allocated to national roads in the BMW region was spent compared with 121% in the south and east regions.

The N5 is the main artery between Dublin and Mayo and it is severely deficient for more than 25 miles. The section between Ballaghaderreen and Strokestown is unfit and unsafe to accommodate heavy traffic and the Castlebar to Westport road, which was an NRA priority in the county more than five years ago, has slipped down the pecking order. One would question when it will be upgraded. These projects have major consequences for industry in County Mayo.

Contact Partners has offered alternative employment to many of its young workers at its Shannon facility. While a number are single, many of them are settled with families and uprooting them to Shannon is not an option. A total of 100 employees have been severely affected by the decision to close. IDA Ireland has built a new business park in Castlebar in recognition of its designation as a hub town under the national spatial strategy but the authority is unable to attract industry to the town because of its inadequate infrastructure.

I do not seek a task force or target group because in the past they have run into the ground and ended up going nowhere. I ask for a positive Government decision to invest quickly in infrastructure in the town. Once potential investors drive through the town, they are left with a negative impression. Given the competition between towns throughout the State seeking to attract industry, this is a severe handicap for Castlebar. I call on the Government to do something about it.

I refer to the debate a number of weeks ago. Regarding the infrastructure operational programme, there was a €716 million shortfall in spending in the BMW region over the past four years. The Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, accepted that fact in the House on that occasion and the Minister for Finance accepted it on several occasions. Those figures are not disputed. Deputy Killeen also accepted in the House that night on behalf of the Government that towns in the BMW region now have a very significant claim to future investment in infrastructure, particularly in 2005 and 2006. However, only last week, in an article in The Irish Times, I was very disappointed to see that the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, the only Minister we have in the west of Ireland, tried to put some sort of gloss on spending in the region by saying that there had been a 125% increase in money going on infrastructure since 2000.

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