Dear Chamber Member,

I hope you, your families, friends and colleagues are all well.

As we move through the phases of reopening the economy and society, we look forward with unwavering optimism, drive and ambition for our city region. Building a more resilient economy will require commitment from all and a Government focus that will deliver sustainable growth.

The Programme for Government is welcome and the formation of Government cannot come soon enough as we rapidly approach end points for many COVID related supports. There is much for Chamber members to be encouraged by mirroring our pre-election Chamber manifesto with strong focus on areas such as sustainable transport, infrastructure, urban living, placemaking and competitiveness. No one individual, party or organisation will find it perfect and we all have a role to play in developing the detail but we urge parties to be practical, progressive and swift in their approval.

Infrastructure led economic stimulus has been a Chamber priority throughout the crisis as a means to boost recovery and invest in our long-term competitiveness. The Programme creates a framework to accelerate the delivery of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy, with a welcome and fresh emphasis on cycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and further commitment to Bus Connects and rail. Our long-awaited call for an NTA Cork office has potential ensure that there is sufficient delivery focus.

Investment in greenways, blueways and an outdoor recreation strategy will create an opportunity to broaden our active tourism offer which is essential as an emerging market in the face of Brexit and COVID-19 which are intensely challenging for our traditional overseas markets. It’s an essential part of a much larger required tourism package.

It is appropriate to invest more heavily in public and active infrastructure and the move to a 2:1 ratio is a significant statement. It must also however be noted that certain roads projects are essential to regional logistics, to diverting traffic from our towns and cities, and to opening up landbanks such as the Cork docklands for more sustainable high-density development. It is essential that the Dunkettle Interchange is finished, that the M28 is brought to fruition and that the M20 continues. There is a significant deficit resulting from previous austerity measures and this cannot be ignored.

The emerging focus on the Land Development Agency to deliver on challenging sites is welcome, but it cannot meet the volume of density required on it’s own. The private sector must be enabled to play a leading role, or we will fall far short of the goals of the National Planning Framework and consign ourselves primarily to sprawl. The ad hoc but incessant development of brownfield urban spaces for high density accommodation must enliven developers or the rhetoric around density will remain vapid.

As ever we will be engaging heavily around COVID-19 business supports to ensure they are functional and beneficial in practice and will continue to speak with Government leaders throughout this process. We are pleased to see that our discussions around sector specific models are being advanced. However, in parallel our SME’s remain key to recovery and Government focus on this broad group which doesn’t necessarily fall into neatly into a single sector must be retained and strengthened further.

Finally, we have called consistently for Government to strongly and overtly support the EU Green Deal and to make it a central pillar of our recovery, to create a better society and to bring credibility to our national sustainability, which is critical to our international reputation and competitiveness. We firmly commend the intent set out in this regard, and ask that Ireland make every conceivable effort to be at the forefront of this vision for Europe.

I would like to thank those of you who have actively engaged with the Chamber, sharing valued feedback and comment that we have taken on board in our lobbying activity, and which is helping to shape the agenda for our Sustainable Cork Programme. 

Warm Regards,

Paula