Plans to make Waterford the "new Galway" were debated yesterday at a conference on the future of the city.
Mr Eddie Breen, the Waterford city manager, said the city was growing at twice the national average and had more space than any other for balanced development.
He told the conference, organised by the city's chamber of commerce, that continued growth "will make us the new Galway". The comment was prompted by the remarks of an earlier speaker, an ESRI economist, Prof John FitzGerald, who asked why Galway was "the Irish success" of 1960 to 1995 in terms of growth and Waterford "the failure".
Mr Breen said Galway had achieved much faster growth because there were no major urban centres within 30 miles of the city, but there was a cluster of large towns within reach of Waterford. "Waterford has had to fight for its growth. Galway didn't."
Mr John Farrell, IBEC's southeast regional director, said they should forget about Galway and think internationally. There was no reason why Waterford, albeit on a different scale, could not design a city as attractive as Paris, Bruges, Stockholm or New Orleans.
Mr Breen said the designation of the Waterford by-pass, which is to be completed by 2005, had created major development opportunities in the north-west of the city.
Plans provided for two urban villages, with schools, playing pitches and public open spaces. The other major development, he added, would be on the north quay. A joint plan drawn up by Waterford Corporation and the Harbour Commissioners, and supported by the OPW, included proposals for a hotel and marina, shopping facilities, office buildings, a pedestrian walkway, a commuter ferry, a cruise liner docking station and, "most of all", a venue building.
"It would be the biggest thing that the region has ever seen," he said.
