Midlands Gateway
Midlands Gateway also known as Lake-Counties Gateway is area centered between the major Irish airports, of Dublin, Shannon, and Knock, with ever-improving ground infrastructure, the Irish government and local authorities plan to alleviate urban problems, by decentralising to growing gateways such as the Midlands Gateway of Offaly and Westmeath.
According to the Irish National Development plan the Midlands gateway objectives are to reinforce and further develop  strong links between these towns and the neighbouring urban centres, by means of infrastructure and services in order to maximise internal and external accessibility as a location for investment business development  and tourism.

The principle urban centres concerned with the Midlands Gateway are Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar.

The counties immediately concerned are those of County Offaly and County Westmeath. The neighbouring counties are County Cavan, County Laois,  County Longford, County Meath, County Monaghan, County Roscommon, and  nearby Ulster counties.

Objective

The proposed combined County council strategy aspires to provide the basis for the development of a world class, knowledge-based and competitive gateway. The strategy is designed to create an integrated linked Gateway comprising Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar together with the other surrounding towns in the region with the objective of developing internationally competitive Gateway. 
The designation and development of the Midlands gateway is aimed at providing the basis to develop a range of high quality employment and educational opportunities centred on first-rate accessibility and mobility. The Irish government strategy, combined with the associated councils has been formulated with the intention of ensuring the availability of choice in residential, retail, leisure and tourist facilities based on the principles of quality of life and environmental enhancement. It is hoped that this strategy, when implemented, will support economic development in adjoining counties to the Midlands Gateway.

Vision
The development of a world class, knowledge based and competitive gateway, underpinned by quality urban structure and environment, excellent infrastructure and a visionary leadership which maximises quality of life for its citizens.

A background to this project is the Government’s National Spatial Strategy,  which was launched in 2002 with the objective of engendering a more balanced approach to regional development across the State.
The purpose of this Strategic Framework is to focus more directly on the role of the Midlands Gateway within this Strategy in acting as the economic driving force for the development of the Midlands region.

Achieving the vision

In order to ensure that the vision for the Midlands Gateway is fully achieved, the following partners are of critical importance to the Midlands gateways success:
Involvement and participation of most important stakeholders/agencies responsible for achieving the vision, including Government Departments, Industrial Development Authority (Ireland), National Roads Authority NRA, Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and local agencies;

Development of a long-term strategic approach regarding the development, advancement and promotion of the Midlands Gateway;

Clear integration of the three principal Gateway towns of Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar so as to form a seamless 'linked gateway';

Incorporation of the Strategic Development Framework for the Midlands Gateway into the Regional Planning Guidelines for the Midlands Region;

Ongoing monitoring and review of the Strategic Development Framework to ensure its success.

Transportation Accessibility Mobility Internal & External to the Gateway

One of the most essential requirements that will ensure the successful operation of a Gateway is the provision of high quality transport infrastructure so as to provide the necessary levels of internal and external accessibility and mobility. Currently, the Gateway does not have direct access to complete Inter-Urban Motorways/Dual-Carriageways, both internally and externally. The Gateway, and in particular the three principal Gateway towns of Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar, is served by main line inter-urban rail and bus networks, with direct access to urban centres of Dublin, Galway and Sligo, and limited local bus services. However, there is poor rail connection within the Gateway.

In addition, the Gateway is not directly served by an inland port and, of critical importance, is not currently within one hour drive time of an international airport. There is poor road linkage between the Gateways towns, with limited rail and bus service links. Based on the road development proposals announced in the Transport 21 Government Proposal (November, 2005), the Midlands Gateway will attain improved and direct access to the above-mentioned national urban centres, and therefore also to ports and airports. There is a need to considerably improve the road infrastructure within and adjacent to the Gateway, as the existing status is significantly insufficient.

Overall, the Gateway's current position is deficient in terms of transportation, accessibility and mobility.

Indecon report conclusions
The scale of the economic challenges facing the Midlands Gateway is very large. The analysis in the Strategic development Framework for the Midlands Gateway report  (listed below), has highlighted the following challenges:
 The absence of a critical mass of population, employment and infrastructure in the Gateway;
 The extremely low levels of value-added and productivity in the existing manufacturing base in the region, which leaves the Gateway vulnerable to significant further job losses;
 The persistence of socio-economic barriers, including noticeably higher unemployment, lower educational attainment, and social deprivation/exclusion in certain areas in the Midlands counties;
 The failure of the region to capture a higher share of tourism activity and to develop higher value tourism product areas; and
 The absence of a strong, identifiable ‘brand’ for the Midlands Gateway, which gives the Gateway and surrounding region strong visibility as an attractive location for live and work.
 The reporters Simpson and Associates, strongly believe that unless the strategies recommended in this report are implemented, the potential for the area to develop as a significant Gateway is limited and this, like all the other  elements of the (original National Spatial Strategy), now called the National Development Plan, would remain aspirational. 
 If, however, the recommendations in this report are implemented, we believe there is a real opportunity for significant progress to be made.

Epilogue
This above mentioned report represents a major step in collaboration between the Westmeath and Offaly County Councils in developing the Gateway. While there will be significant challenges in implementing the gateway concept, this framework represents the key first step forward and, when followed by the other actions recommended, could see the full implementation of this element of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS). This might provide the basis for developing a successful competitive gateway.

See also
 Irish National Development Plan
 Platform 11
 Transport 21
 Midland Railway Action Group

References

External links
 Westmeath.ie
 Offaly.ie
 Midlands Gateway
 Finance Ministers  Mr. Brian Cowen's Speech 2 March 2007
 Strategic Development Framework For The MIDLANDS GATEWAY
 Science Foundation of Ireland

Rail transport in Ireland
Athlone
Mullingar
Transport in County Westmeath
Transport in County Offaly
Economy of the Republic of Ireland