The Institution of Engineers of Ireland has delivered a report to Government calling for the development of 15 separate "nodal" areas which might be developed to spread economic development. They are Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Tralee, Limerick, Galway, Athlone, Carlow, Dundalk, Enniskillen, Sligo, Derry, Coleraine and Belfast.

Taking in the Republic and Northern Ireland's plans for growth gateways, the institution has suggested that Dublin and Belfast should expand at a rate of less than half that of the other gateways over the next 10 years. The report notes that because of the soaring cost of housing in the Dublin area, the other nodes will become increasingly attractive as places in which to live and work.

However, it points out that "consistent, comprehensive and integrated plans" for the development of each gateway should be drawn up to include transport, information technology, energy, environmental infrastructure, healthcare, third-level education, and inward industrial investment.

The institution said the new nodal gateways should be used not simply as housing centres or dormitory suburbs of Dublin: they should collectively make up a "clearly defined spatial development policy".

The institution focused its attention on the possibility of creating conditions which would enable the vast majority of the population to live within a "travel-to-work" radius of a major development centre.

The report, entitled Towards an Island Population of Six Million, is aimed at influencing the Government's spatial development commission, which is due to report by the end of next year.

Covering issues of air and sea access, transport, roads, communication and energy infrastructure, it mirrors many of the assessments of the Fitzpatrick report - the blueprint for spatial development.

So far, most of the reports on spatial development and the creation of economic gateways, centres or nodes seem to have in common a number of cities and towns: Athlone, Waterford, Dundalk, Sligo and Limerick. To a lesser extent, the various studies and reports include Tralee and Castlebar, while Galway city already benefits from the economic growth of the Border, Midland and Western Region. Carlow is a new addition to the list and reflects the fact that the Government has decided that the proposed M9 strategic corridor will follow close to the route of the existing N9 and pass near the town.