Moves are under way to establish a forum in the south-east similar to the Council for the West to lobby the Government on regional issues.
Providing there is sufficient support for the idea, it is hoped to have the group in place before the formation of a new government following next month's general election.
A call for the immediate establishment of the forum was made at a conference on regional development in Kilkenny on Monday.
Mr Nicholas Fewer, the chairman of the Strategy Waterford task force which produced a report recently for the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, on the economic needs of the region, said the south-east had not shared in the success of other areas and this had to be addressed.
A forum was needed with strong regional representation drawn from the public and private sectors with a "dynamic, robust agenda and a definitive mechanism to respond, monitor and lobby effectively", he said.
"This forum should be established immediately in order that we can respond and contribute to the new government in order to ensure inclusion in what undoubtedly will be new policies and structures which will affect the region," he added.
Mr Fewer said yesterday he was writing to potential participants in the forum with a view to getting it up and running as soon as possible.
It remains to be seen whether a Waterford-led initiative will gain sufficient support from other counties to be effective, but Monday's conference was something of a breakthrough in itself.
Although organised by Strategy Waterford and the Waterford Institute of Technology, it was held in the Parade Tower in Kilkenny Castle and was opened by the mayor of that city, Mr Joe Cody.
Business leaders who addressed the event included Mr Billy Murphy, deputy group managing director of Glanbia, the food giant which employs 1,700 people in the south-east out of its total Irish workforce of 3,500.
Emphasising the need for improved transport infrastructure in the region, he said the company experienced daily at first hand the deficits of the road infrastructure.
The nearest port to its processing plant at Ballyragget was at Belview, outside Waterford city, and was "accessible only via one of the most dangerous roads in Ireland".
"It is an active disincentive to future development. As we are already on the periphery of Europe and already face cost disadvantages in reaching the marketplace, it is essential that we minimise transport costs."
Ms Mary Buckley, IDA Ireland's area director for the south, agreed that much work needed to be done to deliver faster growth to the south-east.
"There is general acceptance that the issues blocking growth are essential pieces of development infrastructure, especially access, telecommunications and education," Ms Buckley said.