South-east in EU rich list

EU figures tonight highlighted a wide disparity in the wealth of different regions in Ireland.

The statistics placed the south and east of Ireland among the community’s 40 richest zones, but ranked the rest of the country in the lower half of the 211 surveyed areas of Europe.

The Eurostat returns reported that the south-eastern part of the Republic had the 34th highest region economic output in the 15-nation EU in 1999, leaving it just behind the Cologne district of Germany, and marginally ahead of Cheshire in England.

But the border, midland and western counties of Ireland - currently the target for special aid projects from Europe - were left in 154th position, one place behind Northern Ireland and just in front of France’s Nord-Pas-De-Calais.

For Eurostat purposes, Ireland is divided into two sections - the south and east and the border, midland and west.

The favourable ranking of the former means that its 1999 output was 17% above the EU average, but the latter was 21% below.