Businesses in the south-east are to present a unified front in lobbying for major investment in the region and they want politicians to do the same.
A report on the minimum development needs of the region, prepared by IBEC South East, was presented to TDs and MEPs in Waterford on Friday. It calls for substantial investment in infrastructure, third-level education, tourism and waste management.
It follows extensive consultation between IBEC, the Business and Employers' Confederation, and business organisations throughout the region, including enterprise boards, partnership bodies and State agencies.
Those behind the report hope it will be the catalyst for the adoption of a more cohesive approach to the needs of the region. Unlike the west, which has created a strong regional identity, the south-east is perceived to have suffered in the past from the failure of individual counties and urban centres to rise above sectional interests.
IBEC's south-east regional director, Mr John Farrell, said that while the final report was drawn up by his organisation, it had the broad support of businesses in the region. They were now asking politicians to go out and lobby for what was required.
The report, a 12-page document which concentrates on the areas in most urgent need of attention, points out that the region has lower-than-average income and the second-highest level of unemployment in the State. It also has a low level of third-level participation.
It places a strong emphasis on the need for investment in infrastructure, particularly in the road and rail network. The infra structural deficit in the region, it says, is a significant factor in inhibiting inward investment.
A substantial increase in funding for Waterford regional airport and the continuing development of the Rosslare and Belview ports are also called for.
The establishment of a university in the region is included as a "medium-term objective"; in the meantime, it says, Carlow and Waterford Institutes of Technology should be expanded to cater for continuing growth in student numbers, while WIT should also be upgraded to a status equivalent to that of the Dublin Institute of Technology.
Mr Farrell said meetings were now being sought with the Ministers for Finance and Enterprise and Employment to lobby for the inclusion of all aspects of the report in the next national development plan. It was neither a "wish list" nor a demand for hand-outs, he stressed, but the minimum requirements needed to create a climate of investment in the region.
Five politicians attended the launch: the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Martin Cullen; Mr Ivan Yates TD and Mr Brendan Kenneally TD; and Ms Nuala Ahern MEP and Mr Liam Hyland MEP.