Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Carey for the question. A Programme for a Partnership Government and the Action Plan for Rural Development both commit to progressing the concept of the Atlantic economic corridor, AEC. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Ring, established the AEC task force in March 2017 to progress this proposal and I now chair this task force. The role of the task force is to provide strategic oversight and direction in developing the AEC concept, which was initially brought by local chambers of commerce along the west coast and the American Chamber of Commerce. A key objective of the task force is to ensure that the existing resources and skills within the region can be supported and assessed. The task force includes representatives from the business sector, key Departments and Government agencies, local authorities and third level institutions. It is the key mechanism for engaging with and building collaboration between stakeholders. Two subgroups of the task force are now in place, one considering infrastructural investment priorities and the other covering the issue of enterprise property capacity in the region. A third group, covering communications, has also been established. These task groups are composed of members of the task force itself and provide a more focused platform for consideration of key issues relating to the development of the AEC.

The Government's Project Ireland 2040 plan, published last Friday, fully supports the development of the AEC, which I welcome. It specifically highlights the contribution that the AEC can make to achieving the regional growth objectives of the national planning framework. In order to further support the AEC proposal, I have offered to co-fund the appointment of an AEC officer in each of the local authorities along the corridor. That will include the local authorities in Kerry, Limerick, Clare, Galway city and county, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo and Donegal. We have written to the chief executive officers, CEOs, and local authorities in that regard. This will provide a dedicated resource in each local authority to support the work of the AEC task force and its subgroups and to promote the AEC concept within each local authority area and across the region as a whole. I welcome the AEC initiative. We all know there is a great capacity in the west coast as a counterbalance to the Dublin region and it was welcome to see that that was key to the national planning framework and to Project Ireland 2040, published last Friday.

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