At a seminar on regional development beginning in Cork today, issues ranging from the future of regional airports to the location of the pharmaceutical industry are to be addressed.
Chaired by the Tánaiste's adviser, Mr John O'Brien, the two-day seminar will hear a number of academics and economists criticise the State's failure to adequately develop the regions.
Dr Eoin O'Leary of University College Cork, one of the seminar organisers, is expected to argue that this could jeopardise national prosperity over the next 20 years.
He is also expected to be critical of the delay in implementing the National Spatial Strategy.
Dr O'Leary said yesterday the most serious threat to prosperity came from unbalanced regional development and infrastructure bottlenecks. While bottlenecks were especially acute in Dublin, other cities were also straining at their limits, he said.
Mr Kieran O'Donoghue of Forfás will present an enterprise policy perspective on regional development, while two academics, Ms Rachel Hilliard and Mr David Jacobson, will suggest there are certain factors which influence where specific industries choose to locate. Their research shows that the concentration of pharmaceutical firms in Cork indicates that being in that area is now a positive factor, chosen by companies with capabilities to meet challenging environmental standards.
They also suggest that these companies may have encouraged the upgrading of environmental competence in regulators and in other supporting institutions.
Ms Ella Kavanagh and colleagues from UCC will argue that regional airports can be a dynamic driver of industrial development and that Cork Airport should not adopt higher aeronautical charges than either Dublin or Shannon, but instead develop a strategy to expand revenue from non-aeronautical commercial sources at the airport.
Prof Mike Danson of Paisley will detail the experience of regional development agencies in Scotland.
The seminar aims to provide a forum for regional economists to present their analyses and recommendations. It has attracted interest from policy-makers, Government Departments, State agencies, local authorities, regional development agencies and local business groups, as well as academics.
According to Dr O'Leary the Government should now replace the objective of "balanced regional development" with improved regional growth and competitiveness in newly designed functional economic areas.
