Unemployment in Co Galway is set to decrease by half between now and 2002, according to a report by the city's Chamber of Commerce. It says continuing growth in the number of tourists visiting the city and county, as well as other developments, will see unemployment figures falling from 15,453 in 1996 to 7,700 by 2002.
The report, Galway 2002: A Shared Vision, paints a rosy picture of a prosperous and thriving city in the early years of the next century. It will be published later today by the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Molloy.
It was drawn up by the chamber following consultation with many agencies and organisations in Galway, including IDA Ireland, Forbairt, Ireland West Tourism, Udaras na Gaeltachta and the local authorities.
The report aims to provide the city's first coherent and coordinated blueprint for economic development, and create a forum for discussion about its future, according to the organisation's president, Mr Joe Greaney. "The whole point of the exercise is first of all to gather certain information that makes certain points so blatantly that people will recognise trends and opportunities," he says.
"What we are hoping to achieve is that the different organisations which have the mandate, the money, the power and the opportunity to effect change will do it in a consultative and integrated way.
"So you don't have a situation where the local authorities are doing one thing, the business community is doing something else, the harbour board is doing something else again and the third-level colleges are doing their own thing."
Income from tourism in Co Galway amounted to about £230 million last year, according to the report, with an estimated 1.5 million visitors.
However, a regional com parison of market share for the years 1994-96 shows the west performed worse than Dublin, the south-west and mid-west regions, it says.
According to Mr Greaney, Galway now has a surplus of lowbudget accommodation. The future growth of the industry lies in attracting more high-income visitors.
"We would be anxious that apart from the numbers increasing the spend per visitor would also increase. The average visitor to Galway is spending less money during his stay than the average visitor to the east coast."
This is partly due to Galway's relaxed image, he says. "We are a victim of our own success in terms of the reputation we have as a cultural, artistic, relaxing place. It would appear, although there is no scientific evidence, that that attracts the lowerspending tourist. They might stay a while, but they don't spend."
The chamber hopes to stress the need for new tourist initiatives at a trade seminar it is hosting later this month. "It is not a question of trying to reduce that [low-budget] tourism: it is a question of trying to increase the higher-spend tourism at the same time.
"We need to ask what's here in terms of family holidays, allweather facilities, the winter and shoulder seasons. There are still lots of things not in Galway. For too long we have depended on passive tourism, people walking the streets, going into the pubs and listening to the music and buying a postcard. I think there is room for the other kind, the more pro-active, interest-based tourist."
The report identifies a number of key infra structural developments which it says are urgently needed. Chief among these is a resolution of the intractable dispute over the provision of a sewage treatment plant, but it also lists priorities for road, rail and air links.
Mr Greaney says it is high time the Mutton Island issue was "put to bed" and is critical of the lack of progress in resolving the issue. "Those responsible are the Department of the Environment and the municipality, and it has got to be done. As taxpayers and ratepayers we couldn't say we're overimpressed by their performance. It has been going on a long time and plants like it, small and big, have been built in other cities."
The report calls for the completion of by-passes on the Galway-Dublin road at Loughrea, Ballinasloe, Kinnegad and Enfield by 1999, and the upgrading of the rail link by the end of next year.
"It is unacceptable that on the main east-west road you have to go through Loughrea, stop at traffic lights at Ballinasloe and wait your turn at Kinnegad. It's a joke," he says.
He is scathing in his criticism of Iarnrod Eireann for what he describes as its "unacceptable inefficiency" on the Dublin-Galway line.
"It is unacceptable to be arriving an hour late to your destination on a journey that should only take two hours. It is still going on: I was a victim of it [last] week. We were only 200 yards out the track when it stopped: the locomotive broke down and they had to get another one.
"It's the `pub with no beer' syndrome. They are in the business of trains and locomotives and they have a train going from Dublin to Galway that is going to break down 200 yards down the track. Everybody laughs, but it's not funny."
The report sets a target of three scheduled flights per day from Galway to Dublin next year, rising to four a day in 1999.
A total investment of £5 million to £8 million is needed to extend the runway, improve traffic control systems and develop other facilities at Carnmore Airport. This would allow jet aircraft to use the airport and enable it to cater for cross-channel traffic. The Government has pledged £4 million.
"The private sector here, especially the multinational grouping, is prepared to put their hands in their pockets to match that, such is the seriousness with which they view it," Mr Greaney says.
The city's rapid growth in recent years emphasises the need for balanced and "peoplecentred" planning, with greater attention to quality-of-life issues such as the provision of green spaces, environmental protection and the creation of an ambience within which the arts can flourish.
The increasing prosperity of the city and county will continue to attract newcomers or returned emigrants, leading in turn to increased pressure on land earmarked for housing develop ment.
Similarly, the rapid growth of recent years has led to a big increase in crime levels which needs to be tackled by providing increased resources to the Garda authorities.
"Again we are a victim of our own success. The city is, no doubt about it, quite a relaxed place to live. The extreme of that is where it is maybe just that little bit too relaxed.
"There is a flouting of a sense of respect for people and law and order at times that needs to be turned around. It's not serious crime, but there is a general lack of respect for fellow citizens and neighbours in terms of the way people behave on the streets, the way people park their cars, in terms of the way people are boisterous and loud late at night. That sort of breakdown in respect is bordering on a breakdown in law and order."