THE ROSCOMMON HERALD Wednesday, 13th SEPTEMBER, 2000 Front page
Meeting To Discuss Call Centre
The head of Marconi, the international technology company, is expected to be in Ireland this week to hear a submission from Galway businessman, William A. Thomas - proponent of a plan to build a new £75 billion city on the Mayo-Roscommon border - aimed at bringing 3,000 jobs to the West of Ireland.
Mr Thomas, speaking at a public meeting to outline the new city plans held in Ballaghaderreen on Friday night last, said that Marconi - for whom he works as a consultant - are extremely interested in setting up an international call centre.
Mr Thomas said he is confident that Marconi can be persuaded to locate their call centre in the West.
About 150 people turned up to the public meeting in Ballaghaderreen Town Hall to hear Mr Thomas outline his plans for a new city. He claimed that he already has promised backing of £20 billion and will require no Government assistance bar tax incentives and legislation to speed up the planning process.
Mr Thomas said that he expects to have backing of £75 million from various interntional companies within seven months and he claimed that even one year's delay in getting the project up-and-running could be disastrous.
(see full story page 5)
THE ROSCOMMON HERALD Wednesday, 13th SEPTEMBER, 2000 page 5
Plans For New City Outlined
About 150 people turned up to a public meeting in Ballaghaderreen on Friday night last to hear Galway businessman, William A. Thomas, outline his plans for a new £75 billion city on the Mayo-Roscommon border. Mr Thomas claimed that he already has promised backing of £20 billion and will require no Government assistance bar tax incentives and legislation to speed up the planning process.
By
Angela Doyle
While there was some scepticism in the audience, most appeared to listen with an open mind to Mr Thomas' proposals which included the decentralisation of three Government Departments, a new university, museum and international hospital and the provision of gas-fired power from the new gasfields off the West coast.
The Bishop of Achonry, Dr Thomas Flynn, who introduced Mr Thomas, said that the purpose of the meeting was to hear the proposal and start thinking about what it has to offer.
Since the idea was first floated earlier this year, there have been varying reactions from the thoughtful to the outright scornful, especially since the project has been dubbed 'City of the Sacred Heart'.
Bishop Flynn pointed out that most things start with a vision and he drew an analogy between this project and the dream to build an international airport near Knock. "People thought there wasn't much chance of it coming to fruition but all things are possible if we have the will to do it," he said.
Bishop Flynn pointed out that if the project goes ahead, the new city will make a difference to all our lives but he made a few comments about the realities of life as we face them now. "The vast majority of our young people over the last 15 to 20 years have had to leave the West of Ireland to get employment," he remarked.
At the same time, the Bishop himself has been caught in Dublin traffic and said that it can be a "headache".
"Here we have a proposal for much more pleasant surroundings in which people might live and work," he noted.
Bishop Flynn stressed that there are three major problems facing the West of Ireland at the moment, and the proposal for a new city should be considered in the context of them. Firstly, there is the need for fibre-optic telephone cables if the West is going to develop and be able to provide the necessary services to modern industries.
Secondly, the road infrastructure is still poor and there is currently a proposal from Mayo County Council to run a major route from Charlestown to Boyle to link up with the Dublin-Sligo road, thereby by-passing Ballaghaderreen and the troubled N5.
The third problem, he said, is gas. Despite the huge supply which has been discovered off the West coast, there is a serious danger that Mayo and Roscommon will be two counties which will not get any supply at all.
"The reason that is being given is that there are not enough people living here to justify putting those three things in place. Those three developments could transform the whole area and it is in that context that the development of a new city would make most sense," he concluded.
City To Have £75bn Backing
William A. Thomas' plans for a £75 billion city on a five-square-mile plot of land on the Mayo-Roscommon border arose from his sense of the injustice of the East-West economic divide in Ireland. Mr Thomas claimed that he already has backing of £20 billion and will have £75 billion worth of backers within seven months.
By
Angela Doyle
The businessman, a native of Barna in County Galway, spent some years in the United States before returning home in 1992 to set up a company, Rockall Shipping, which is involved in defence and security investment. Mr Thomas also works as a consultant to national and international companies.
His plan, which he said is just at the embryonic stage at the moment, is for a completely new centre of population - with the infrastructure constructed first - on a five-square mile area west of Ballaghaderreen, east of Kilkelly, south of Charlestown and North of Ballyhaunis. He pointed out that the area currently has a population of about ten people per square miles and includes lands which has little agricultural value.
William Thomas, the man behind the plans for a new city,
addresses a public meeting in Ballaghaderreen.
Pic. Michael McCormack.
Outlining the background to the proposal, Mr Thomas explained that he developed an interest in the emerging Celtic Tiger and who is being affected by it and in what way. He found that the benefits of the economic boom were regionalised and, while areas like Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway benefited to a greater or lesser degree, it seemed that outside these areas the Celtic Tiger simply did not exist.
"All the Celtic Tiger did here in the west was put up prices and who up the disparity between the regions," Mr Thomas said. He also looked at all the factories opening in the East and all the ones closing in the West and realised that there is "an unfair balance".
Mr Thomas attributed some of the decline of the west to lack of strong political representation. "The West of Ireland's political representation has not been strong and I believe that this decline will continue until there is proportional development between East and West. It's almost as if the West of Ireland is being held back," he said, calling on the Government immediately to repeal legislation designed to stop transatlantic air traffic landing at Knock.
"We need a project big enough to give people the same quality of life as they have in the East and it would also give people the opportunity to stay at home," he pointed out.
The Bishop of Achonry, Most rev. Dr.Thomas Flynn
address a public meeting in Ballaghaderreen
where plans for a new city were outlined.
Pic. Michael McCormack.
Mr Thomas said that he already has commitments of £20 billion to the project and has further interest from more companies, including Virgin Trains who are interested in a £5 billion investment in the city's transport system, including a 50-minute rail link to Dublin. He added that he is aware of between 50 and 65 other companies who would like to get involved in the West of Ireland.
"I believe the backers are there and I think that within seven months I will be going to Dublin to give them [the Government] the plans and £75 billion. I have no problem raising the money," he stressed.
Pointing to the net decline in IDA jobs in the region last year and the ongoing population decline, Mr Thomas asked if the West is destined to become a region of holiday homes or destined to be a place with a real future for the people who live here.
"This is a question you all will have to come to terms with. Now is the time to make your pitch: if you don't do it in the next 12 months it will be very difficult to do it later on," he commented. "I appeal to you to consider the possibilities of the new city."
Pointing out that the population of the Republic is estimated to reach six million by 2020, Mr Thomas said that the five cities already in Ireland are "bursting at the seams" due to "ad hoc unplanned infrastructure" which is developer-led.
"I believe this idea is real and I am very confident it will work and I am very sensitive about it and about your concerns," he assured the audience.
He said the position paper was published and presented to the Government in February and was, in general, well received by individual Ministers. He added the idea of building a new city has worked in other countries, most notably in the construction of a new city outside Rome and the new city outside Rome and the new capital Brasilia in Brazil which was built to deal with the problems of the teeming city of Sao Paulo which was slowing grinding to a halt.
The most important aspect, he said, is to "future-proof" the city so that it will still be relevant many years down the road. He is seeking the decentralisation of three Government departments - Environment; Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Education and Science - to the new city and claimed that the three Ministers concerned were "quite enthusiastic".
The city will be powered by gas from the West of Ireland fields which, he said, contain enough fuel to supply the countries gas needs for the next 100 years.
A section of the gathering pictured at a public meeting
in Ballaghaderreen where plans for a new city were outlined.
Pic. Michael McCormack.
The city would also include an international hospital, a university, an international academy of sciences, a national conference centre, hospices and nursing homes, a national museum for the West and a national exhibition centre, together with a Ministerial Department for the West which would oversee regional development.
"Not only do I believe it will work but I also believe it's a necessity," he warned. "If we don't build it now we will have to do it in 20 years and then it will be a shambles. We have a chance to do it properly now."
During the question-and-answer session which followed Mr Thomas' formal presentation, he said that while the theme of the new city will be internationality, it will be a distinctly Irish city with an international flavour, not the other way around.
In relation to environmental concerns, he said that Greenpeace have already been invited to be part of the design team. Greenpeace designed the Olympic City in Sydney to high environmentally-friendly standards.
Answering a question on the fate of the householders and landowners who would be displaced by the new city, Mr Thomas said that they will accommodated elsewhere during construction and then will be offered new accommodation of their choice in the city.
Mr Thomas, in conclusion, said that no Government funding would be required. In terms of support, he would require “special legislation to allow the project to go ahead”.