A failure to create a competitive environment and the proper infrastructure could cause Cork city to miss out on major opportunities for inward investment in the future, chief executive of Howard Holdings Greg Coughlan warned yesterday

Addressing the Cork business seminar, Mr Coughlan said the city had lost the opportunity to host Google's European research and customer service hub because it could not provide the office infrastructure. "Cork remains singularly unprepared to accept the radical shift that will create the kind of product that will make the city attractive to investors. It is axiomatic that if we fail to provide the offices, the commercial parks, the campuses, the recreation facilities, we will continue to be by-passed," he said.

Mr Coughlan criticised the lack of progress on developing the Cork Docklands, which he said could provide the potential and opportunity to capture more than its fair share of national and international business.

"It also seems to me that the level of connectivity that is necessary to roll out the project at an acceptable pace simply does not exist at this point," he said.

"The actions of some of the key stakeholders within the Docklands area are, at best, unhelpful and, at worst, damaging to the progress of the project. They reflect no commonality of purpose and little joined-up thinking amongst those on whom the business sector depends."

Mr Coughlan described the delays in the development of the CIÉ site at Horgan's Quay as astounding. "It is as if the company is marching to a drumbeat of its own, impervious to the greater requirements of Cork," Mr Coughlan also queried the Port of Cork's policy of putting small, almost "undevelopable" quayside strips of land up for sale on the open market which he said was not the most appropriate way for the port to finance its relocation to Ringaskiddy.

While the Docklands renewal could shape the future of Cork, too much of what was going on within the project area is strategically disconnected, he said.

"If the intention of the Docklands project is to attract commercial developers to invest in the first instance and to create the kind of facilities and infrastructure which are required, then the overarching and inhibiting bureaucracy within the relevant public authorities and agencies needs to be jettisoned. Something needs to be done to clear the channels, to allow work to progress."