Open Agenda with Tom Shiel
New City offers hope
GERARD McGARRY
"Enterprise Connacht/Ulster has unfinished business and the "New City " proposal offers us an opportunity to complete the task commenced in 1985 when we started the campaign to bring European Development Funds to the region.
"The European Development Funds came to Ireland and then came to the region but they were not distributed as had been hoped. Some areas such as Dublin, the east coast, and cities in general had tremendous grains from the Structural Funds. Now William A. Thomas, who has prepared a plan to solve urban problems, brings his proposal to " Lįr Connacht " and in doing so offers a solution for the rural underdevelopment of the centre of the region.
"William Thomas proposes a new city in the centre of Connacht. However, this is not to suggest a transfer of the present urban problems of congestion, traffic, crime and social problems to a new location.
"On the contrary, he offers the advantages of rural society in a new specially designed environmentally friendly city. This is development which will encourage community and tradition while, at the same time, taking advantage of modern facilities and technologies and all the attractions which are now demanded by young people. We could perhaps envisage a Silicon Valley, "Gleann Silicon".
"I met William Thomas to discuss how his vision could be achieved and I put to him all the hard questions. I referred to the various obstacles and challenges which he is sure to meet and I probed his plans and strategies. He provided very convincing answers.
" For example, I raised the issue of effluent disposal from a large population centre and he explained the systems and technologies which are tried and available elsewhere such as in China, systems which will not only treat the waste but a/so bring environmental benefits. Traffic, roads and rail all can be provided with minimum reliance on public funds. Of course the airport is already there and the gas main will pass by.
"What employment will be provided for the population of the new city? Here William Thomas is at his most convincing. Private investment capital is available for a new city in the west in exactly the same manner as private capital is lined up to build the Spencer Dock area in Dublin or indeed for any other major project throughout the State.
Capital will be invested wherever conditions are most favourable, where tax-incentives are available and where there is public sector support. The modern approach to development is public/private sector partnerships, arrangements which depend on private funding combined with public sector support and infrastructure.
"The support of our elected representatives is essential to the success of the new city. Now all our politicians have supported the National Plan which proposes the further expansion of major towns and cities throughout Ireland. These favoured locations are dressed up as "Gateways" and growth there is expected to filler out and down to smaller towns and rural areas.
"New satellite towns and large housing estates are proposed near cities already congested. In Connacht, the favoured cities are all on the perimeter-i.e. Galway, Sligo and Athlone. All of these growth centres are a long way from "Iar Connacht", simply too far away to anticipate any spin-off benefits.
Of course, the Gateway selection is to be evaluated on a technical basis by the National Spatial Strategy. This is where William Thomas has found an opportunity, an opening in the defences of the proponents of the Gateway strategy- he wants his new city proposal to be given equal treatment in the National Spatial Strategy deliberations.
William Thomas needs support to ensure that his proposal is allowed equal treatment. This realistic and achievable proposal should be supported by everybody who is interested in the survival of rural central Connacht.
In brief:
what exactly is proposed
William A. Thomas, a native of Barna, County Galway, is the man behind plans for £75 billion new city in east Mayo. Although Mr. Thomas is reluctant to reveal details of the exact location of the proposed new Metropolis, which would cover some 5 square miles, it is believed to be centred on Kilmovee parish.
Mr Thomas says he already has been promised backing of £20 billion and that the list of potential investors include Richard Branson and U.S. computer billionaire, Bill Gates.
Branson's Virgin trains, according to Thomas, are interested in a £5 billion investment in the city's transport system, including a 50 minute rail link to Dublin.
The theme of the new city would be an international one but it would be a distinctly Irish city with an international flavour.
Mr. Thomas says Greenpeace have been invited to be part of the design team. Greenpeace designed the Olympic city in Sydney to high environmental standards.
Householders displaced by the new city would be accommodated elsewhere during construction and would then be offered comfortable, apartment, accommodation.
Mr. Thomas is seeking the decentralisation of three Government Departments - Environment; Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Education and Science to the new city.
The city, powered by gas from the Corrib Field off Mayo, would also include an international hospital specialising in European wide cancer treatment and care; a university; an international academy of sciences; a national Museum for the west and a national Exhibition Centre.
Justifying the provision of a new city on the grounds of economic imbalance and a rising population, Mr. Thomas explained that the population of the Republic is estimated to reach six million by 2020 and the existing cities are already "bursting at the seams".
No Government funding would be required for the new city but, in terms of support, special legislation would be required to allow the project go ahead.
*William Thomas spent some years in the United States before returning home in 1992 to set up a company, Rockwell Shipping, which is involved in defence and security investment. Mr. Thomas also works as a consultant to national and international companies.