Experts from the European Commission, Denmark, Northern Ireland and the Irish Government will debate the future of Ireland's Southern and Eastern Region at a conference in Waterford this week.
The conference will focus on the region's share of the State's multi-billion-pound plans to upgrade roads, telecommunications, water services, railways and public transport, employment prospects and education services over the next 6 1/2 years, as part of the National Development Plan.
The plan is worth more than £27 billion to the region, £4.2 billion of which will be administered by the Southern and Eastern Regional Authority in Waterford, covering the Southern and Eastern Operational Programme.
Entitled "The National Development Plan and Regionalisation in Ireland", the conference takes place tomorrow and Friday in the Tower Hotel in Waterford.
The conference will also address the experience of devolving power and funding to the regions from a European Union perspective. International experience will be provided by Mr Peter Mehlbye of the Ministry of Environment & Energy, Denmark, while Mr Ken Mawhinney of the Department of the Environment will address the Government's forthcoming growth-centre strategy.
According to Mr Stephen Blair, director of the Southern and Eastern Regional Authority, the regional operational programme, which has recently been finalised, includes spending on local infrastructure, local enterprise development, agricultural development and social inclusion.
While the estimates for this expenditure were contained in the National Development Plan, these figures are the actual budget figures, and have not been released previously.
The local infrastructure element will include spending on local roads (£1,066 million), rural water schemes (£152 million), waste management (£489 million), urban and village renewal (£88 million), e-commerce and communications (£238 million), seaports (£99 million), regional airports (£3 million), and culture, re creation and sport (£262 million).
The local enterprise development budget is £505 million which covers tourism (£152 million), micro-enterprises/sole trader-type businesses (£181 million), regional innovation systems (£22 million), forestry (£48 million), fishery harbours /aquaculture/Gaeltacht and islands (£72 million).
The social inclusion budget includes childcare (£248 million), equality (£19 million), community development (£89 million), crime prevention (£57 million), youth services (£213 million), and local development (£295 million). Slightly more than £420 million is provided for agricultural and rural development.
An overview of the National Development Plan is to be provided by Mr Tom Heffernan of the Department of Finance tomorrow while the role of the regional assemblies will be addressed by Mr Gerry Finn of the Border, Midlands and Western Regional Authority. Delegates from Northern Ireland and other EU states will also be present.
While Ireland is now divided into three regions in European terms, the two in the Republic are further divided into four regional authorities. The experience of these authorities over the period 1994 to 1999 will be addressed by Mr Tom Kirby, director of the Mid-West Regional Authority on Friday.
Also on Friday Mr Eddie Breen, the Waterford city manager, will look at the regional operational programmes and their implications for local authorities. The future prospects for regionalisation in Ireland will be addressed by Mr Jim Fitzpatrick, managing director of Fitzpatrick Associates, economic consultants.
Speaking to The Irish Times this week Mr Blair said the region had a diverse character, containing pockets of low population and little wealth as well as the more prosperous and populated south and east. People tended to recognise the character of the Border, Midlands and Western region but would forget that the Southern and Eastern region contains west Cork, Kerry and stretches as far as the Meath-Louth border.
The region covers 13 counties and about half of the State's territory, but is home to about 73 per cent of the State's population. It also covers the large urban centres of Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick.