Study highlights barriers to south-east economic growth

THE lack of a university and poor road access to Dublin from Waterford are critical barriers to economic progress in the south east, according to Frank O’Regan, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in the region.

Welcoming the publication of a major study, ‘South East Agenda 2020’, commissioned by Chambers of Commerce from the nine main towns in the region, Mr O’Regan said the report identified the university and motorway deficits as two major obstacles to social, cultural and economic progress.

“There is now emerging a strengthening consensus between business, industry, educational and local organisations that the time has come for the south-east to demand the basic infrastructure to enable us to accelerate economic growth in a region which now lags behind other regions,” said Mr O’Regan, who is vice-president of Bausch & Lomb, the pharmaceutical company which employees 1,700 people in Waterford.