CSO DATA RELEASED today shows that the average amount of disposable income people who live in the north and west of the country is lower than the State average.
According to 2018 figures, along the border region the average disposable income is €17,391 and in the west it was €18,593 (€18,030 between the two regions).
The State average disposable income for that year was €21,270, up from €20,578 in the previous year.
The Midland region had a disposable income of €17,389 – a 2.4% decrease on the 2017 figure.
The average disposable income was highest in Dublin, at €24,969.
Dublin continues to be the only region with higher per capita disposable income than the state average during the entire 2009-2018 period while the Border and West regions continue to earn significantly less than the state average.
Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus expressed concern at the data, saying that the gap has “widened significantly in the past number of years”.
The Midlands Northwest MEP said: “In fact, the gap has increased every single year since 2010. The large majority of counties in the Midlands Northwest constituency bar a couple of counties commutable of the capital have completely fallen behind through State neglect.”
“This is yet another report indicating that our region is suffering and declining at a rapid pace. While other parts of the country have recovered somewhat from the financial crash of 2008, our region has stagnated and there has not been any increase in the quality of life of our people since then. Given this two-tier economy it is little wonder that the EU has recently classified the Northern and Western region as a region ‘in transition’, meaning we’re going backwards.”
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