One such factor that can heighten or hamper growth is the level of connectivity which a city or region experiences. Connectivity is a universally acknowledged factor that is emphasised time and time again as being crucial in attracting in and sustaining investment to a region and therefore it is a priority for businesses to be supported by a level of infrastructural connectivity that is conducive to enabling growth and expansion. Cork Chamber strongly encourages that the decision not to progress with the development of the M20 motorway to the planning stages be reconsidered as this critical piece of infrastructure will support increased competitiveness and economic growth for Cork, Limerick, the wider Southern region and the Atlantic Corridor as a whole. As far back as 2007, in the Cork to Limerick Route Pre-Feasibility Report, it was evaluated that the route between Cork and Limerick suffered from capacity issues and therefore needed to be upgraded to a higher quality.

Not much has changed in the intervening period with the road connecting Ireland’s 2^nd and 3^rd cities still being comprised of a mixture of dual and single carriageways. As journey times grow ever increasingly critical from a ‘doing business’ and competitivenessperspective the limiting of traffic between Cork and Limerick to roads that are not equipped to serve current and predicted growth should be seriously addressed as a lack of vision here could greatly hamper anticipated growth. The 2007 Pre-Feasibility Report also states that HGV movements along the Cork to Limerick N20 cause a reduction in average traffic speed particularly through the narrower and more sinuous sections where overtaking is not possible. This has many repercussions, and not only from a journey time perspective, but also from a road safety perspective.  Indeed, the proposed corridor would bypass towns and villages and in doing so separate strategic traffic from local traffic, improving journey times for the strategic Cork to Limerick traffic, and increasing safety for all road users along the route. The proposed corridor includes connections to each town and is of potential benefit to these towns in easing congestion and also in ensuring an efficient road link to Cork and/or Limerick. What’s more, It is expected that the agri, food and dairy sectors in the region will grow in the coming years due to the abolition of milk quotas and as these are transport heavy industries, this growth will result in increased traffic between the cities which will result in increasing pressure on the existing N20 road between Cork and Limerick and the greater Atlantic Corridor reaching to Galway and the west.

What’s more, the Action Plan for Jobs 2015 highlights a number of key ambitions of which the building of “an indigenous engine of growth that drives up the export market share of Irish companies” and the building of “world-class clusters in key sectors” are deemed of significant strategic importance and therefore the existence of “fit for purpose” road connectivity is essential in realising the future aspirations of our regions and the ability of our regions to work in partnership. Furthermore, as reinforced within the Cork Area Strategic Plan (2001 – 2020), the success of the economy of Cork is dependent upon a number of factors of which excellent physical infrastructure and ease of access are critical.

The recurring theme associated with the importance of our infrastructure from a regional and national perspective cannot be underestimated and prompts questioning as regards the future affect that such decisions to curtail such regionally critical investment will have in the longer term.  What’s more, according to the IDA, Cork sits at the industrial heart of Ireland with Co. Cork having the highest value of gross output per person engaged in industry in Ireland in 2011. As significantly, the South West region accounted for the highest percentage of Irish industrial output at 36.2 percent, or €36.7billion, in 2011. Such data quantifies clearly the contribution of Cork and the South West region to the overall health of the national economy and the reluctance to enable this growth to develop and expand is very disappointing to the region as a whole.

Cork Chamber reiterates strongly the need to develop this critical piece of infrastructure and strongly encourages that the decision to not progress with the development of the M20 be reconsidered. It is clear that the development of this critical artery linking Cork and Limerick would result in improvements in employment, attraction of FDI, reduced traffic congestion and improved journey times between Irelands 2^nd and 3^rd cities. Cork Chamber therefore requests that Minister Donohoe clarifies future intentions with regard to this critical infrastructural development which is increasingly vital to promoting and enabling growth in the Cork, Limerick, wider Southern and the Atlantic Corridor regions.