By Conor Sharkey

LOCAL politicians have reacted angrily to Strabane being ignored in a government blueprint that could see thousands of public sector jobs relocated to the North West from Belfast.

On Tuesday, an independent review recommended that at least 5,000 jobs should be moved away from Belfast to six locations, including Derry, Omagh and Coleraine.

The recommendation will no doubt be welcomed by the hundreds of civil servants forced to leave the North West on a daily basis to travel to work in Belfast.

But local politicians have criticised Professor George Bain's report, saying that at least some of the jobs should be relocated to where they are needed most.

SDLP councillor Eugene McMenamin said it was unforgivable that Strabane had once again been over looked.

"This was a real opportunity to put right the wrongs of years of direct rule and misrule here in the North. For years, Strabane and the West have been forgotten about in Government strategies and planning and now it seems nothing as changed.

"I appreciate that both Derry and Omagh are recommended as locations and I hope that will help some workers west of the Bann but Strabane is an area of high deprivation and people here need jobs. The failure of this report to recognise this need is unforgivable. We have a high standard of workforce in Strabane ready and willing to take up local jobs. We were all hopefully that the Bain report would deal effectively with the lack of job opportunities in Strabane, but to ignore our need is completely unacceptable.

"I will be raising my grave concerns about this at the highest level and will continue to lobby for public sector jobs for Strabane," he said.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty said he too was disappointed by Professor's Bain report but vowed to continue to fight on behalf of the people of Strabane.

"Sinn Fein has long campaigned for the decentralisation of public sector jobs to areas west of the Bann and the border corridor as a necessary measure in helping to redress economic imbalances and inequalities that have historically existed in this part of Ireland.

"These proposals by Professor George Bain and his panel identifying Omagh and Derry as two of the six decentralisation locations are to be particularly welcomed. The political focus must now turn to ensuring that the maximum number of public sector jobs are decentralised to Omagh and Derry in the shortest timeframe possible. "However, I am extremely disappointed that the compelling case that was presented to Professor George Bain and his panel for the decentralisation of public sector to Strabane has not been accepted. While the authors of this report acknowledged that Strabane has the lowest base of public sector jobs in the six counties at 8.2 percent per 100 of the working population and the highest levels of deprivation, they made no attempt to 'directly' address these glaring inequalities.

"I recognise that Strabane is viewed as being within the travel to work catchments area of both Derry and Omagh and that there will be beneficial spin offs in terms of people from Strabane being able to access increased public sector job opportunities in both locations.