Professor Alan Barrett:

The truth, to answer the second part, is there is not much one can do in the budget. It is a much longer term issue.

I am talking on the edges of my knowledge here. Many have looked at the modern growth processes and the importance of a major urban centre is fairly critical. If one thinks about the south east, Waterford and Kilkenny may view themselves as urban centres but clearly there is a critical mass dimension to this, and often the university issue is linked in to that as well. However, it is not only the university. There is a range of elements that cities provide that are relevant when decision makers are locating industries. It is not even about the old-fashioned notion of supply chains or anything like that. It is about how young people simply want to live and work in more dynamic centres or whatever. This is not only an Irish phenomenon. If one thinks of places with which we are familiar, for example, in Britain, there is the power of the south east region there. My understanding from discussions with colleagues across Europe is that much of the recovery post-recession in France was around Paris and Lyon. In Germany, it is in the bigger cities. There seems to be a gravitational effect pulling resources and economic activity in to the centres. That is why places such as Galway, Limerick and Cork have done reasonably well. That has always been the explanation I have been given of the difficulties in the south east.