The axis of Belfast, Dublin and Wexford is becoming an "Ireland Incorporated", absorbing 90 per cent of public investment at the expense of balanced regional development, according to an NUI Galway economist.
Prof Michael Cuddy of the university's economics department said Belfast and Dublin are already closely linked as the State's only two cities joined by a full motorway.
He said Ireland should have two "capitals" if balanced regional development is ever to be more than a "political fudge". The second "capital" complementing Dublin should be a "development corridor" linking Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford. This would generate a higher rate of national economic growth, a more balanced spatial development and a better quality of life for east and west, he said.
Prof Cuddy, who recently outlined his proposal to the West Region Development Authority in Westport, Co Mayo, said the "missing link" in the published National Spatial Strategy is this second capital. The notion of "balanced regional development" has been mentioned in every national and regional policy document since the 1940s and is used more than 20 times in the text of the strategy.
However, he said, the economic reality is that Ireland's spatial development could not be more lopsided and the spatial strategy as proposed will not change that configuration. In that sense, "balanced regional development" is a fudge term, coined by politicians who dwell in the world of "political surrealism" where terms like "cohesion" and "sustainability" have also lost their meaning.
Only by linking towns and cities in the west will there be greater economic activity, as large agglomerations are the drivers of growth, Prof Cuddy argued. However, Dublin has become uneconomic, with unbalanced social and physical infrastructure, congested commuting networks and reduced competitiveness.
Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford are all relatively weak centres in their own right, he said, but together they have a critical population mass of some 700,000, a basic infrastructure and provision of services to form a second national centre, with international airports, universities and the capacity for research and innovation. "Much of the foundation is already there."
Prof Cuddy said there is a European precedent for this approach, with polycentric development at the heart of European spatial policies and already in practise in countries like Denmark.
He proposed combining central and regional policy here to promote and support the development of two national centres, while the hub/gateway elements of the national strategy and other aspects of spatial development can also be implemented.
Prof Cuddy's comments have come at a time when the Western Development Commission has been asked to draw up a new strategy for towns on radial routes in the seven western counties it represents. The commission has recently highlighted the €644 million shortfall in National Development Plan spending in the Border, midlands and western region.