SOUTH DUBLIN County Council is to seek talks with the Department of Defence to develop Baldonnel Aerodrome as a commercial airport as part of a new economic strategy for the county.
The council hopes its strategy will ensure jobs are retained during the recession and new employment is generated in south Dublin.
The local authority presides over some of the largest areas of disadvantage in the country such as Tallaght, Clondalkin, Neilstown and Jobstown.
However, the council says it also has huge potential for economic development with well developed transport infrastructure, including the Luas and the up-graded M50, serviced business and industrial land and the potential for tourism.
Notwithstanding the current economic difficulties, the council believes the development of the Air Corps base at Baldonnel as a regional or freight airport would help secure the future of the region and enhance its attractiveness as a distribution centre. The council is to seek talks with the department in relation to “easing” the safety and security restrictions to allow the development of the airport.
In relation to tourism, the area has an image and identity problem, the report stated. As a county, south Dublin was not well recognised and even people living there tended to see themselves as from a particular suburb or from Dublin as opposed to from south Dublin.
It was important to clarify what was on offer in terms of tourism, the report said, by marketing the county as a gateway to both the city and the country.
Launching the strategy, Labour councillor and chairman of the county development board Eamonn Tuffy said insuring there was sufficient business land in the future was the key to keeping and creating jobs.
“There are a lot more people working in the county than there was a number of years ago, but we must do everything we can to prevent people losing jobs and provide opportunities for people to get new jobs,” he said.
