Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has promised Government financial backing for the "Atlantic gateways" development of four regional cities as a counterpoint to Dublin.
Describing the Atlantic gateways approach as a "very adventurous project", Mr Roche said it would dovetail with the National Spatial Strategy, to which the Government was still "firmly" committed.
Marking the publication of a report on the concept in Galway yesterday, he said that the Government's Transport 21 strategy had already committed financial resources towards developing the necessary infrastructure which would link the four urban areas of Cork, Galway, Limerick/ Shannon and Waterford.
Among the key recommendations in yesterday's report is that early delivery of critical road and rail transportation links outlined in Transport 21 would be "the key step" in linking Cork, Limerick/ Shannon, Galway and Waterford.
It also recommends that a high-level taskforce drawn from relevant existing agencies, authorities and Government departments, supported by international expertise, should promote the concept further.
Mr Roche rejected suggestions that decentralisation had thrown the National Spatial Strategy into disarray or that the Atlantic gateways report might be no more than a repeat of the Transport 21 plan with elements of the strategy added in.
"What we have here is the policies that will support the NSS," he said. It represented an "overarching" approach which knitted together the various elements of public policy. He cited examples of the Ennis and Gort bypasses and the delivery of local water and sewerage schemes on the western seaboard as important elements in "making this concept a reality".
"A plan is only a plan on paper until you actually put in the resources and put in the specific policies to deliver on the plan," Mr Roche said. "Transport 21 has committed a vast amount of resources, including a major road linkage, and that's going to be critical in terms of building up the infrastructure that will support the alternatives to Dublin.
"We have been criticised for putting money into roads but we can't have it both ways. If we want to create a spatial strategy that spreads development across the country, that creates a counterpoint to Dublin, we have to make this kind of investment."
Also speaking at the conference, John Bowen, chairman and chief executive of the Bowen Group, said that the Atlantic gateways "vision" of a "connected, dynamic polycentric super-region" could make a "major contribution to a new Ireland".
An "engaged private sector" working in collaboration with the public service and with State agencies offered the best hope of implementing such a vision.
