Dramatic fall in Westmeath's place in country's wealth league table

Westmeath is rapidly becoming one of the country's poorer counties, dramatic new figures have revealed. Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show the county to lag behind 18 other counties nationwide in terms of spending power. Disposable incomes in Westmeath amounted to €20,134 in 2007, the latest CSO figures have revealed, the second highest in the Midlands. The newly-published County Incomes and Regional GDP report shows that despite a 53% rise in Westmeath disposable incomes between 2000-2007, the Lake County was overtaken by Laois as the top earner in the region during that year (€20,227). It was the first time since 2000 that Westmeath was not the Midlands' richest county. And levels of disposable income have obviously risen at a much faster rate in other parts of the country too as Westmeath has fallen from as high as 7th in the national income league table in 2003 to 18th in 2007. The figures also reveal the Midlands to be the country's poor relation coming in at 8.8% below the State average andtaking the worst performing area of the country tag. As expected, those in the capital had more money to spend in 2007 with the princely sum of €24,038 in their pockets, almost 11% above the average countrywide. That's followed closely by their near neighbours in the commuter belt of Kildare, Meath with Limerick and Wicklow , who made up the top five best earners in the country three years ago. At the other end of the scale was Donegal, the worst off in the country with just €18,070 disposable income in the latest figures, in fact, only Kerry were better off at €19,003 and €19,141 in Offaly. Along with these counties, Mayo and Longford made up the five areas nationwide with incomes of only 90% of the State average. Meanwhile, Roscommon comes second in disposable income stakes in the west ahead of Mayo with €19,619 in 2007 but was still in the lower echelons of spending power in Ireland during 2007. In further bad news for the Midlands, the statistics also showed it had the lowest GVA in the country, a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the region at just 65.8% of the State average. Reacting to the figures, Moate-based Irish Rural Link said the statistics revealed a two tier Ireland with significant differences in income between urban and more rural counties, with larger gaps likely in future. "These figures show that spending on rural infrastructure and local services cannot be cut and highlight the need for investment in infrastructure and training. Carbon tax is adding to rural households' fuel bills at a time rural incomes are at an all time low. In view of Bus Éireann's cut backs and today's figures the government should immediately remove the levy on petrol and postpone the introduction of the carbon tax on domestic fuel for two years until it is properly rural proofed and a cost benefit analysis for rural enterprises is carried out," Irish Rural Link Chief Executive Seamus Boland urged. Mr Boland continued that in their evaluation paper examining the submitted to Colm McCarthy as part of the An Bord Snip process, the Department of Finance said that investing in areas with very low populations cannot be seen as a priority in the current economic climate. "This is despite 40% of the population living in rural dispersed settlements. The unemployment crisis will be most difficult to resolve in more rural counties which were over-reliant on primary industries such as agriculture, construction and traditional manufacturing. Off-farm income in sectors such as construction was vital for farm families and thousands of these jobs have been lost." He called for commitments to achieving more balanced regional development to be adhered to, adding that a need for some fresh thinking on developing more dynamic regional employment markets was also required.