Ireland is "a four-star economy with a two-star infrastructure" that needs to catch up rapidly if we are to sustain our economic development, the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland (CCI) warned yesterday.

Roads and airports topped the CCI's list of 10 economic priorities for the Government in 2006.

The CCI said that while there had been a significant improvement in the delivery of road projects, the Government needed to be more ambitious in its programme for the Republic's roads.

The Atlantic Roadway, in particular the core links between Galway and Limerick, should be completed within the lifetime of the next national development plan, according to the CCI, which called for a construction schedule for the project to be published without delay.

The CCI said a delay of more than 18 months in the full implementation of the State Airports Act 2004 was unacceptable. It called on the Government to complete the process whereby Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports are established as independent authorities under State ownership by the end of March.

As far as telecoms infrastructure was concerned, the business body said the Government must legislate to enable the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to force Eircom to unbundle the local loop without delay in order to create greater access to broadband services.

On decentralisation of the public service, the CCI said the only way for the Government to achieve its aims without massive delays was to abandon its guarantee that public servants can have a veto on their relocation. Issues such as open recruitment at senior level and performance verification needed to be addressed properly as part of the second round of public sector pay benchmarking.

Recommendations on education, energy, waste, childcare and the rejuvenation of industrial estates completed the CCI's wishlist.