From Shopping Centre to Conference Centre?

Having looked at Failte Ireland's www.meetinireland.com conference and events website for the Island of Ireland I have to say that yes, I am indeed disappointed at Waterford Citys' omission from it. Having said that and having read Gary Breens response to the issue in today's Munster Express it does seem a little more than obvious, that, rather than jumping up and down about our omission, we would be FAR better employed looking at our hotel and conference offering and asking ourselves: how can we come up to the Faitle Ireland standard of 4 and 5 star hotel rooms, large scale conference facilities and a trade association/conference bureau which would engage in selling Waterford (with the assistance of Failte Ireland) to the lucrative International Conference market?

I have a suggestion: it seems to me that the Ferrybank Shopping Centre (artists impression above) is an ideal venue to be converted into an International Standard Conference and Events venue, with conference facilities, hotels, dining facilities and services all on one site, conveniently located adjacent to Waterford City (albeit within the County Kilkenny boundary). It seems to me that this would bring back to life an otherwise dead duck project which, in my opinion, has little to no possibility of ever opening up as a shopping centre in its own right as the population simply does not exist in Ferrbank to sustain it.

Ideally, I would moot for these type of facilities to be placed on the North Wharf, however that too is highly unlikely to happen and as the famous phrase goes; we are where we are. It seems to me that it is an obvious solution which would deliver a world class conference and events centre on one site the likes of which a city which considers itself to be a Gateway should have, as well as a solution which matches a need (for such facilities) with their possible supply. Could it be that two plus two really would add up to four in this instance?

It would appear to me to be a win-win situation. The building, if left in its current state will, sooner or later deteriorate a la the Ardree Hotel and Waterford badly needs to rise to the challenge laid down by Gary Breen (a Waterford man who does Trojan work for this City and the South East in his tourism role) in his letter.

Perhaps, the Waterford City Chamber of Commerce might consider setting up a group to explore this and/or other ways of ensuring that Waterford meets the criteria and will be able to compete for conference business and perhaps then they might facilitate the setting up of a conference bureau or undertake themselves - as a Trade Association - to do that work?

That way we would be moving forward in a positive and constructive way. The rates would go to Kilkenny County Council for sure, but the business spin-off would certainly benefit Waterford City. And isn't it time that we started having a few wins as a team here in the South East? Because, whether we like it or not we are going to have to work more closely together if we want to compete not just in Ireland, but globally.

This would, of course, involve a change in direction for the project and for both Councils but we either change and evolve - or we die, and we certainly are not competing (or even featuring at the moment in the citys case) on the world conference map. So do we want to stay off the map and hold onto that white elephant shopping centre....or could we make something of it and open up another market for ourselves?