The danger with Government planning policies was that the rest of the State would be developed at the expense of Dublin, a top economist said yesterday.
Mr Jim Power, chief economist at the financial services group Friends First, was among those speaking at the publication of Agenda for Dublin, a report drawn up by the Dublin Employment Pact (DEP) and Dublin Regional Authority (DRA).
The main recommendations in the report, launched by Sen David Norris, include the setting up of a Greater Dublin Authority and a Department of Urban Development. It highlights the need for continued, sustained economic and social development within the Dublin region.
Mr Power said Dublin was the State's gateway to the world, and as such it deserved clear and consistent policies. It needed to be afforded the same treatment as the rest of the country.
"The danger with the National Spatial Strategy and other Government policies is that the rest of the country will be developed at the expense of Dublin. That would be a mistake as a vibrant economy needs a vibrant capital city."
The various agencies with responsibility should behave in a more mature manner, particularly in relation to planning issues. "It is only if the various agencies work together that Dublin will be in a position to offer a 'welcoming committee' to tourists and potential investors."
Mr Chris O'Malley, strategic development executive DCU, said if Dublin or other regions really wanted to be equipped to manage the range of issues in the future then he believed the challenge of genuine decentralisation had to be cracked.
In recent years there had been initiatives to try and provide more "joined-up government".
"However, none of the new bodies have been allowed to have either the resources or the powers they would need to bring about real coherence of public service provision at regional or local level."
Prof Loughlin Kealy, of the department of architecture, UCD, said development decisions taken had been permissive rather than directive, and if there was one thing that the past few years had shown, it was that the kind of future city envisaged in Agenda for Dublin would not come about by allowing opportunism or market forces to decide development patterns.
Mr Philip O'Connor, director, DEP, said: "Not only do the major agencies not have a strategy for Dublin, but they are specifically engaged in actively dispersing economic activity out of Dublin."