Since the 1980s, regional development policy in advanced economies has emphasised the promotion of endogenous development potentials within regions, with local/regional government playing a leading role in the creation of effective governance structures for mobilising these potentials. A key feature of this approach is the adoption of the city-region" as the organising unit for pursuing local/regional development. Ireland has not followed this lead, continuing to rely on external investment as the main engine of economic growth and failing to devolve highly centralised functions which could give local/regional government a more effective developmental role. This article argues that the 2012 Action Programme for Effective Local Government proposes a regional structure which is meaningless in terms of city-region development and fails to address the governance weaknesses which inhibit development at the regional and local levels. The action programme therefore ignores international best practice regarding how effective regional development should be pursued.