A lively debate on the future of the Shannon stopover and the dismantling of Aer Rianta is expected at a conference in Limerick that is to be addressed by the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, this morning.
The conference on "Dynamic Regions - Building European Competitiveness" is organised by Shannon Development and will hear a range of national and international speakers, including the Tánaiste, debate such issues as how regions can compete in an expanded Europe.
Conference speakers include Canadian Mr Louis Turpen, who is president and chief executive of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA). Mr Turpen witnessed the dissolution of the Canadian airport monopoly when 23 of that country's 26 major airports, including Toronto, were leased to regional authorities.
Mr Turpen will address the topic of "Equitable Access: Fundamental to Economic Success" and a lively debate on the future of the Shannon stopover is expected.
Mrs Harney is expected to be questioned closely on the future of the Shannon stopover, the continuance of which the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has acknowledged is under pressure from the European Commission.
Mr Kevin Thompstone, chief executive of Shannon Development, will explain the Shannon story in a case study entitled "Shannon - Building Global Competitiveness through Local Action".
A world-renowned authority on world competitiveness, Prof Stéphane Garelli, from Switzerland, whose research focuses on how nations and enterprises compete on international markets, will speak on the topic of "World & Regional Competitiveness in 2004: What's Next?"; and Jim O'Hara, vice-president of the technology manufacturing group of Intel Corporation and general manager of Intel Ireland, will speak on "Global Competition".
Commenting that the conference is particularly timely in the light of European enlargement on May 1st, Mr Thompstone told The Irish Times that "unless action is taken, the economic and social development of the west of Ireland will continue to significantly under-perform national growth."
Mr Thompstone said the key objective of the conference was "to galvanise attention around the new European development agenda, focusing on the development of 'Dynamic Regions', propelling international competitiveness and innovation through local action".