Growth in West outpacing Border region

A few multi-national companies skewing the average GDP

A few multi-national companies are skewing the average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the Northern and Western Region, which includes counties Cavan and Monaghan, The Anglo-Celt can reveal.

The growth in GDP overall has caused the region to be reclassified to a ‘More Developed Region’ for the next EU funding period, impacting how certain projects are funded.

Following the reclassification, the North Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) has published statistics for the region. They highlight that the reclassification is based on inflated GDP figures stemming from only a few multinational companies – with little actual impact on domestic economies.

While the NWRA acknowledges that the alleviated status represents a significant improvement on the region’s previously held status as a ‘Transition Region’, they concede that “regional disparities in Ireland have progressively increased since 2019”.

The European Commission announced that the region will be defined as a ‘More Developed Region’ for the next EU funding period of 2028-2034. This is based on the region’s average GDP being over 100 per cent of the EU27 average. This will see the EU will cut their funding of the ERDF from 60% of project costs funded to a margin of 40-50 per cent of the total cost.

In their February Briefing Note, the NWRA responded saying: “Comparing the Northern and Western Region’s GDP performance relative to the other NUTS 2 Regions of Ireland is not appropriate due to the activities of a small set of multinational companies located in the Southern Region and Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland.”

While “highly valuable”, the activities of these multinational companies have dramatically inflated the GDP figures from 2015 onwards. The NWRA emphasised: “Activities that have very little impact on their actual domestic economies.”

In addition to that, there has been “quite a divergence” in economic performance between the West and the Border since 2019. For example, in 2019, the Border’s GDP per capita was 65% of the EU27 average, with the region progressively rising to 69% in 2024. In contrast, the West’s GDP per capita moved from 97% of the EU27 average in 2019 to 127% in 2024, with the West’s growth notably outpacing the corresponding growth rate in the border region. To put this into perspective, the value of all final goods and services produced each year in County Cavan is currently estimated at €33,008 (GDP per person) - in Galway it is €56,110.

Data presented at the recent NWRA meeting also showed the annual change in average disposable income per person for the counties of the Northern and Western Region. Cavan has an annual average disposable income per person of €26,471 ( up 5.5%); while in Monaghan the figure is €26,908 (up 5.4%). The national average is €30,139 (up 7.7%).

Going forward, Cllr Seán Conlon (SF) suggested “positively discriminating” the more disparate counties in funding allocations in order to boost their local economy.