Minutes:
Deiric Ó Broin, DCU and Eoin Magennis, University of Ulster presented on the Dublin – Belfast Economic Corridor Final Report June 2020.
Comments, Feedback & questions:
The chair thanked both Mr. Ó Broin and Mr. Magennis for the thought provoking and insightful presentation and the group welcome their input and appreciate this linkage. Odran Reid noted this is the best conceptual approach so far and welcomes the notion of a corridor. It was noted the need for definable action as part of a strategy and the idea of cross border is vital but BREXIT & COVID will have a significant impact and will be problematic for the development of the corridor. Cllr MacDonnacha thanked the presenters and noted the impact of COVID on the island, and that this initiative is hugely important. Cllr MacDonnacha queried if there is any standing group and political involvement in the groupings across the 8 Local Authorities? Cllr Cooney noted the inclusion of climate change & flood defence mitigation in the report and queried if there would be more elaboration on this and more benefits to climate action to encourage people to stay on the island to holiday particularly with the current COVID impact and transport improvements between Dublin & Belfast. Also queried if there was a cultural connect on the group and there is a strong link between culture & economy & whether there could be involvement from the cross border agencies. Aidan Sweeney emphasised COVID response, BREXIT and the increased impact on the corridor and what this might be and how this is articulated. In comparison with Belfast City, Aidan Sweeney advised Dublin City & Fingal have not yet developed a grand plan for Dublin and felt there is a need for a workshop for Dublin on the RSES, sustainable infrastructure and identify what does Dublin need & what is Dublin’s vision as Belfast is ahead of the game here. The opportunity here is for Dublin to bring together economic, social and cultural entities together. Cllr Roe queried if any discussion or research has been done on suggestions has been made for moving Dublin port northwards which would free up additional land and creating another hub along the corridor between the two end points.
Cllr Freehill noted Dublin needs to drive this initiative more and has encouraged Dublin City Council and Belfast City Council to work together previously. Cllr Freehill also noted the implications of BREXIT and queried what do would be needed on both sides to ensure collaboration cross border.
Clarifications:
Mr. O Brien provided an overview of the governance of the group to date with Chief Executives of each local authorities meeting quarterly and Director of Services level meeting quarterly and have been a very positive development to date. Infrastructure developments is more about regularity and frequency rather than speed. Mr. Magennis reiterated the regularity service is more prudent than speed and Irish Rail and Translink are currently looking at this. This is evident in the transformation of the Dublin Cork rail service. Dublin Port was not discussed as part of this report or network. The cluster element is of interest, which could be driven at a research level and hope to see clusters developed. The corridor could lose sight and there could be more things to do; where we have come from and where we are headed to. InterTrade Ireland have done significant work on what we have developed to date and what would be completed in response to COVID, and examining these will be key to driving this initiative forward.
Proposal:
Cllr Freehill proposed that the group would agree to progress the political action and develop political networking aspect of this group. Cllr MacDonnacha seconded this proposal and the Chair noted this would be an action item out of the group.