WE MIGHT be deep in recession but Fingal County Council isn’t letting that stop it bandying about words like “upturn” and “success” and “positive growth”.
In a smorgasbord of optimism worthy of the height of the boom days, the Draft Fingal Development Plan 2011-2017 was launched at a conference organised by Keith Simpson and Associates with a bullish title – Fingal: delivering success for the Dublin region.
The conference looked at the role of strategic planning and economic and market stimulus in achieving current and future success.
Themes included: how can we capture the potential of the Dublin region and convert that to tangible benefits for the place and community?; and capturing success – the key role of promoting innovation and enterprise as fundamental to future growth.
Speakers included the Minister for Education and Skills Mary Coughlan, who gave the opening address, and Dr William Hynes, director of strategic planning at Keith Simpson and Associates, and IAVI president Aine Myler who spoke on the “need for a new approach”.
There was a talk by Austin Hughes, the chief economist with KBC bank, on setting the economic scene while Tom Parlon, director general of the CIF, spoke about “overcoming challenges to deliver”.
Strange, perhaps, that the Minister for Education and Skills was launching a draft development plan and not the Minister for the Environment John Gormley?
