The need for decisive Government action on the county´s infrastructure was again reiterated at the recently held Cork Chamber Business Conference.

The N28 route to Ringaskiddy was in particular singled out as an important factor in helping the Cork region to capitalise on what Chamber President Joe Gantly described as its 'enormous potential'.

The general theme of the conference, entitled 'Cork´s Renaissance: A Vision for the Future', centred around the potential development of a future strategy for success and capitalisation on the positives accumulated in the region in recent years.

In opening the conference Joe Gantly stressed the need for all relevant organisations and interests in the region to work together in developing the future strategy and branding of Cork in terms of its marketability to global investors and a high-skilled workforce.

"To ensure Cork´s continued success as a key southern gateway, we need a strong government with an appetite to deliver on balanced regional development and the conviction to deliver on key projects. It is imperative Government funding is available for crucial projects such as Cork Docklands, in addition to critical road infrastructure projects such as the N28 route to Ringaskiddy, which has the potential to open up 400 acres for further foreign direct investment.

"Competitive positioning of city regions is rapidly gaining momentum internationally and our competitors are continuing to market their business offerings and infrastructures to global investors," he said continuing. "Therefore, we must market the Cork region as a location of choice within our global region, as a real and viable business location offering competitive advantage and real opportunity."

With regard to skills development in the region, Mr Gantly said, "Cork remains attractive for high-end, skill-intensive operations. However, if we are to continue to prosper, we must ensure that the Cork region has a highly skilled and educated labour force with the ability to not only meet the needs of the regional business community, but also more importantly to allow Cork to respond to emerging opportunities that will present themselves in the future".

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