People and policy makers need to start thinking regionally if the south-east is to attract investment, writes Kieran Byrne
Recent reports produced by Teagasc, the national agriculture and food development agency, suggest the counties of the midlands and south-east are the new "disadvantaged" areas of Ireland due to a drop in economic performance there.
Average income in the south-east has been in decline recently with income per person in Waterford falling by 4 per cent in the late 1990s. In contrast incomes in Limerick rose by 6 per cent in the same period. The difference in economic performance between the south-eastern and western regions has been exemplified in the level of job creation through both domestic and foreign enterprises over the 1991-2000 period.
These results bolster the perception that the fruits of the Celtic Tiger have not been equally shared between regions and counties within the State.
However, the results will not come as a surprise to everyone. For several years a number of individuals and organisations have been drawing attention to problems with infrastructure development in the south-east, where progress has been extremely slow.
The need for improvements in roads and airport facilities, telecommunications, third level education and waste management were all highlighted in the "Strategy Waterford" report published in 2002. The problems have long since been identified and now require action.
The south-east already has a number of successful models to build on. Co Waterford, with Waterford City at its centre, has seen a fundamental shift from traditional industries to modern technology and skills-based business. In Kilkenny there is an impressive model of dynamism and success.
Carlow and south Tipperary have both showed good progress and Wexford has its own successes, although the relative contribution of overseas investment to the county's growth remains quite low.
The challenge now is to spread the success of these models right across the region. This requires a shift in thinking and people and policy makers alike need to start thinking and acting regionally, not just locally.
We need to develop a region in the south-east with the critical mass to attract new business activity and investment. Being able to compete globally, not locally, should be the goal. A united sense of purpose is needed and all parties should work in partnership to create a competitive advantage in the region.
While it has infrastructural problems, the south-east has strengths that should enable it to compete with any other location in the State.
The key strength is perhaps the strong population base of 400,000 people, although flat population projections are a concern. The area also has a high quality of life rating, five urban centres with more than 20,000 inhabitants and three Institutes of Technology.
Education will be of paramount importance to success. The relative position of the south-east with regard to output, income and wages can without a doubt be largely attributed to the area's education profile. Models from across the world, in particular the Scandinavian countries, have clearly demonstrated that strong modern regional education institutions are crucial to future regional growth.
In the south-east, participation rates in third-level are below the national average. With no university in the region young people are often forced to leave and currently about 7,000 students from the south-east are attending universities elsewhere in the country.
This is clearly a major economic loss and statistics suggest that only half of these students will return to the region once they've concluded their studies.
If the education fabric in the south-east was further potentialised, it would stimulate economic development and bring other major social benefits to the region. It would help the region capture a larger share of research and development work and attract more high value-added industry and foreign direct investment, a key factor in enabling the region to compete globally.
Furthermore, it would stimulate intra-regional transport networks and motivate dynamic business leadership and enterprise in the region. This would be a concrete first step towards the goal of bringing economic performance in the south-east in line with the rest of the country.
Prof Kieran Byrne is director of the Waterford Institute of Technology