The four cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford working in collaboration can provide an effective counterbalance to Dublin and help alleviate pressures on the capital, according to Limerick Chamber’s submission to the Southern Assembly’s draft Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES).
Chamber Economist, Dr Catríona Cahill, warns that the draft RSES in its current form does not echo the key goal of the National Planning Framework (Project Ireland 2040) which is to achieve balanced regional growth.
“The Southern Assembly RSES contains three of these four cites and as such is well placed to promote a collaborative multi-city approach, however, the draft RSES as it currently stands acknowledges Cork as the “principal complementary location to Dublin”.
“This goes against the best interest of the country as other towns and cities in the Southern and Western regions that are presently at risk of becoming commuter dormitories for Dublin would witness the problem being merely displaced to potentially servicing Cork”, she said.
As outlined in its submission, Dr. Cahill said that the Chamber’s belief is that the existing economic imbalance evident across Ireland will be prolonged unless the RSES acknowledges that a triangle of the three interconnected Southern cities working in collaboration with Galway provides the only effective counterbalance to Dublin
“From a population projection and infrastructure planning perspective, combining Cork-Limerick-Waterford-Galway together makes sense, where the synergistic impact of the combined region can deliver stronger economic growth than the sum of these four individual regions”.
Limerick Chamber reiterated the need to invest in critical infrastructure to benefit city region interconnectivity, particularly projects such as the M20, the Northern Distributor Road, and the Limerick to Foynes Road. In addition, Limerick Chamber highlighted the important role that Higher Education Institutions play in addressing the skills shortages that are emerging across various industries and called for increased funding to facilitate projected growth in student numbers over the next decade.
Furthermore, the Chamber emphasised the need to revitalise the inner-city area to make it desirable for mixed-income living. Encouraging a high spend demographic in the city centre will have added benefits for retail development. Limerick Chambers submission also takes account of key regional assets and their potential to drive development both within and across regions, particularly Shannon Airport and University Hospital Limerick.
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