Infrastructure plans should focus on cities rather than roads, economist says
The government should be focusing on infrastructure within our cities, and not on the areas between them, according to economist Edgar Morgenroth.
Mr Morgenroth, a Professor of Economics at DCU, says the cities themselves need to be invested in.
It comes after the contracts for the M20 Cork to Limerick motorway were signed yesterday.
The project - the first under the government’s €116bn Ireland 2040 infrastructural plan - has yet to go to tender for construction.
The road will be the biggest infrastructure project outside of Dublin and is expected to be completed in 2027.
Limerick City and County Council is working in partnership with Cork County Council, Cork City Council, Tipperary County Council, the Government, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland on developing the N/M20 Cork to Limerick Road Improvement Scheme, which is part of Project Ireland 2040.
"We have a plan called the National Planning Framework as part of Project Ireland 2040 which aims to increase the scale of both Limerick and Cork quite substantially," Prof Morgenroth said.
"If you want to make that happen, you're going to have to invest in Limerick and Cork, not between them," he said.
