Council backs breakaway Border economic region
Cavan County Council has backed proposals for Cavan and other Border counties to form a breakaway economic region, following the recent reclassification of the Northern & Western Region as a “more developed” area.
The upgrade has raised concerns about the future of EU funding, particularly for counties like Cavan, which the April monthly meeting of elected members heard, continues to face structural challenges.
Cathaoirleach John Paul Feeley said that, while parts of the Northern & Western Region have seen economic gains, these have had “little or no consequence” for the likes of Cavan, highlighting persistent regional disparities.
“Much investment is needed,” he added.
His comments followed warnings from Fianna Fáil’s Áine Smith, who addressed fellow elected members about the hidden challenges masked by reclassification and the statistical upgrade.
The Northern & Western Region has recently moved above the EU average GDP threshold, but Cllr Smith, a member of the NWRA alongside Fine Gael’s Trevor Smith, cautioned that this milestone does not reflect ongoing difficulties in areas including Cavan, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, and Monaghan.
“Counties along the Border and North Midlands… continue to face structural challenges including lower population growth, infrastructure deficits, geographic peripherality, and lower levels of private sector investment compared with other parts of the State,” she stated.
Cllr Smith also highlighted broader challenges across Europe, including geopolitical uncertainty and shifting EU funding priorities. “External pressures on national public finances, together with evolving EU funding priorities and the scale of investment required in areas such as climate transition, infrastructure, housing, digital connectivity and security may constrain the capacity of national governments alone to sustain the level of investment required to address regional disparities.”
To address these issues, Cllr Smith called for a review of Ireland’s regional structure. “I believe that a revised configuration comprising four distinct regions may better reflect economic realities and the challenges and opportunities for economic development,” she said, outlining proposals for a Border Regional Assembly, a Western & Mid-Western Regional Assembly, a South-East Regional Assembly, and an Eastern Regional Assembly.
The aim, Cllr Smith explained, is to regain ‘transition region’ status for struggling areas, enabling greater access to critical EU funding. She urged local authorities to work with the NWRA to prepare a comprehensive position paper on the reclassification and the potential benefits of revised regional boundaries.
“Balanced regional development has long been a core objective of national policy. Ensuring that regional boundaries and classifications accurately reflect socio-economic realities is a practical and necessary step towards achieving that goal and ensuring that regions with continuing development needs are not disadvantaged in future EU funding allocations,” Cllr Smith said.
With Ireland assuming the European Presidency in July, she emphasised the urgency of placing the issue on the EU agenda and encouraged local authorities to advocate for their regions.
Fine Gael’s Cllr Trevor Smith supported his fellow NWRA member, highlighting that the change will alter matched funding parameters from 60/40 to 40/60, placing additional burden on local authorities and putting many projects at risk.
Projects such as the Town Centre First initiative and energy efficiency upgrades of public buildings previously benefited from EU regional funding.
“I agree a Border Regional area would be better for Cavan. The inclusion of Galway city gives skewed figures; if it was removed the figures would halve. Balanced regional development is imperative for Cavan and neighbouring counties,” he said.
Other council members, including Patricia Walsh (FF), Fine Gael’s Winston Bennett, and Independent Ireland’s Shane P. O’Reilly, backed the call, saying the Border region is “crying out” for additional funding, noting that Latvia is undertaking a similar transition at present.