Writing for the Limerick Leader, Dr Walsh has said the formula for economic success in the city lies in replacing the regional development authority with a new "lean and mean agency" working in partnership with a new single urban authority.

Asking what can be done to restore Limerick's competitiveness in the face of lowering investment, Dr Walsh wrote: "The role of the development agencies in the Mid West region is more complex than anywhere, and the resultant ambiguity may have inhibited the activities of the Industrial Development Agency and Enterprise Ireland, to the detriment of the region, and the advantage of Cork and Galway."
Dr Walsh has also called for a metropolitan-style area under one single local authority.

"A new enlarged City Council embracing the whole of the urban area of 100,000 in partnership with the smaller, refocused and well resourced agency could be key drivers that would stimulate the emergency of a new dynamic Limerick city and region," he wrote.

Although the Limerick Leader briefed Shannon Development of Dr Walsh's comments, they declined to make a comment as the newspaper went to press.