Deirdre O'Shaughnessy talks to Gillian Buckley of the Western Development Commission (WDC) about the challenges facing the West, following the revelation by senior figures in the IDA last week that the outlook is bleak for new multinational jobs in Galway.

The West needs to move into a knowledge economy if it is to overcome the current economic slump.

That's according to Gillian Buckley of the Western Development Commission (WDC), the government body charged with developing the economy of the Western region, from Donegal to Clare.

The WDC was set up by the Western Development Commission Act in 1998, and its function is to ensure that economic and social policy effectively meets the development needs of the Western Region.

Included in the region are some of Ireland's most sparsely populated areas, taking in counties Galway, Clare, Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo.

The WDC is responsible for the management and administration of a €32 million fund, the Western Investment Fund. The purpose of this fund is to encourage the growth of businesses in the region, and it provides risk capital by way of equity and loans to both projects and businesses.

According to Ms Buckley, the focus of the WDC at the moment is largely concentrated on its LookWest.ie campaign, which is intended to attract enterprise, jobs and people, who will be attracted in turn by industry.

"The West has a very strong and growing population of very well educated people and there is also a huge pool of people who would come here if the jobs were here - a huge latent pool of labour," she says.

Evidence of this willingness to move West has been found in surveys done by Red C on behalf of the campaign. One statistic reveals that 41 per cent of people under 35 years of age, who live on or around the eastern seaboard, would like to move to the Western Region.

According to Buckley, the West has begun to meet the infrastructural requirements needed to attract businesses.

"The Western Rail Corridor, which we backed, is now underway, and we are hoping inter-radial routes will be established," she says. The Mayo to Galway gas pipeline has been built, with 11 out of 14 towns on the route already connected. However, she says, the Commission has identified a strong need for international air access to the region.