Infrastructure Continuous investment in infrastructure is important to keep pace with growing demands. The NDP of Project Ireland 2040 represents a substantial commitment of resources and is expected to move Ireland close to the top of the international league table for public investment. In addition, competitive funds such as REDF, URDF, RRDF, DTIF and CAF are designed to incentivise creativity and collaboration across industry, government, higher education and communities to continuously identify projects to address bottlenecks that hinder progress. In addition, the LandDevelopment Agency will coordinate land within State control for more optimal uses where appropriate. Research by the ESRI 9 points to specific factors such as connectivity - including transport infrastructure and broadband - availability of talent and human capital, proximity to a third level institute, and the presence of a diverse local enterprise base as factors required to foster new business formation. In this context, the lack of a competitive and internationally recognised university in the South-East puts it at a disadvantage and hinders the potential for new business formation. Therefore, the development of the Technological University of the South- East (TUSE) is critical to the future economic performance of the South-East.
RPO 68
Regional Investment It is an objective to develop and coordinate the regional investment plan, to enable: • Sustainable development of infrastructure that creates a platform for enterprise creation and innovation in the Southern Region;
•
Safeguarding of the Region’s cost competitiveness by supporting an infrastructure led approach to planning for jobs growth; Enterprise infrastructure and initiatives of economic, education and skills development to improve our ranking under the EU Regional Competitiveness Index; Sustainable housing provision with accessibility to locations where jobs are concentrated, ensuring quality neighbourhoods with supporting infrastructure and services developed in tandem with jobs growth; Initiatives that protect and strengthen the qualities that distinguish the Southern Region as a high quality of life destination on the global stage; All proposals for investment in infrastructure shall be subject to robust site selection and environmental feasibility/assessment including Flood Risk Assessment. This should include explicit consideration of the likely significant effects on European sites and potential for adverse effects on the integrity of European sites in advance of any development.
•
•
•
•
9. McCoy et al (2018). Communique: https://bit.ly/2PL1Ya9; Scientific Article: https://bit.ly/2DGlFbQ
Southern Regional Assembly | RSES
123
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker