David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

The purpose of this Adjournment matter is to evaluate the performance of the national spatial strategy and Waterford as the gateway city to the south-east region. A recent ESRI report entitled, Enterprise and Labour: Hubs, Gateways and Inter-regional Specialisation, measured the progress made in the ten years since the publication of the national spatial strategy. The figures give rise to concern for Waterford and the south east. It showed Cork, Galway, Dublin and Letterkenny were the only areas that gained employment. Dublin, Cork and Galway saw a combined increase of 12.5% in employment share but the other gateways, including Waterford city, had a decrease of 12%. There is something systemically wrong in the south east and to me there is no natural reason the region should be underperforming. The recent live register figures show the unemployment rate in the region is 19.5%, 5% ahead of the national average, as bad as that is. The south east has most of the ingredients. It has a strong agricultural sector and there are ports in Waterford and Wexford. We also have easy access to markets, and there are recent improvements in infrastructure with the construction of the bypass, the second bridge in Waterford city and the outer ring road. There has been much infrastructural development in recent years.

The $1 million question is why the region is underperforming, and the answer to that partly lies in the region itself. Nevertheless, most of the blame lies in the fact that the national spatial strategy did not come with any implements or tools to back it up. For example, the enterprise agencies have never positively discriminated in favour of Waterford as a gateway city or the south east in general. Government employment policies have not had a real and tangible regional focus, and the south east does not have a university, which puts it at a unique disadvantage. Waterford city is the only gateway without a university.

It is also interesting that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is seeking to merge the two local authorities in Waterford, in the process removing the autonomy of the authority for Waterford city. He is not doing the same for Galway on the basis that it may compromise the gateway city of the west. Why is there one rule for Galway and a different rule for Waterford? These are genuine questions.

Policy is on paper but the national spatial strategy must be backed up with resources and tangible instruments that deliver change. We must get to the bottom of the question of why the south east is underperforming. In the Lower House earlier today, one of the Minister of State's colleagues, Deputy John Deasy, stated that we were not performing because of the reputation of the trade unions. It was a disgraceful attack on the trade union movement and had no basis in fact, and the Deputy was scapegoating the trade unions for Government failures. We must ensure that the region has the resources it needs, that the national spatial strategy does not just exist on paper and that it has the instruments, resources and tools to be able to ensure that places like Waterford and the south east deliver. That is why I have tabled this matter for debate.