# The Atlantic Economic Zone plan



## shnaek (23 Aug 2005)

I was reading in the Sunday Times this weekend an article by the business editor who suggested that the Atlantic Economic Zone plan put forward by Shannon Development was a good plan and that Micheal Martin was a bit of an ass for blowing it away. 
I hadn't heard much about the plan myself - but the basics of it involved extending the remit of shannon development to a much larger geographic area, making shannon airport a freight hub, building a trade centre and a casino - and doing all this on it's current budget with no cost to the exchequer.
To me it seems like a decent plan on the face of it, and the no cost thing is always a bonus. Sometimes I wonder if the west needs to bond together a bit more, like was suggested here, in order to secure such things as a rail like from Sligo to Cork and a motorway linking the west coast. I mean, if the politicians can spend €1billion on Luas for Dublin, surely €250 isn't too bad to link Sligo to Galway to Ennis to Limerick to Cork?


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