I welcome the publication of the National Rural Plan by Minister Heather Humphries today.
“This new policy sets out all of the things that I have been advocating for including remote working and incentivising people to relocate to our towns and villages”.
“In order for this plan to work, we need to see investment in sewerage and water infrastructure in our towns and villages. We also need to see proper public transport in place including rail and bus services to connect our towns and villages. Projects such as the Western Rail Corridor are a necessity in order to have connectivity connecting our towns and cities and we also need to tackle traffic congestion in Galway city as a matter of urgency. This will require public investment”.
“There is great potential in the plan but in order to achieve the ambition we need to see other Departments providing the infrastructure required”.
“The Department of Transport needs to provide public transport right across the country not just in cities. The Department of Local Government need to provide a separate budget to Irish Water for the provision of Sewerage Treatment Plants in our towns and villages if we are to release our ambition”.
“Remote working and blended working are fast becoming the norm, but we need to provide proper housing in order to attract people to our towns and villages”.
“Policies are indicative only of what can be done. To be successful the government need to provide the funding to deliver the infrastructure required”.
“We have many growth centres around East Galway which are not realising their full potential due to the lack of funding for infrastructure. Towns and villages like Craughwell, Corofin, Abbeyknockmoy and Athenry are prime examples of growth centres where development has been stifled because of the lack of infrastructure”.