Capital projects key to local economy
THE current pandemic has hit Sligo at a time of major investment in a number of projects in the area - and Sligo County Council CEO Ciaran Hayes believes capital investment can help stimulate economic activity once the crisis subsides.
With work on certain projects recommencing this week, Mr Hayes believes that Sligo is in a better place to respond to the economic difficulties that lie ahead when compared with the last recession which followed the financial crisis of 2008.
“My own sense is that those capital projects will actually be quite important in getting money flowing through the local economy again,” Mr Hayes told The Sligo Champion.
“We’re expecting a lot of those capital projects to be back on site this week. We’re expecting certainly the Western Distributor road and the N4 to be back on site. They will obviously have issues to deal with in terms of Covid-19 and social distancing and all the new arrangements, the new normal that we’re in. It’s a welcome development to see some of these sites back in action.”
Mr Hayes continued: “There are indications coming out from government that in order to reboot the economy there will be a focus on certain projects that will both stimulate the economy and provide some employment as well. Obviously we’re at the very early stages, we have a roadmap for the lifting of restrictions but there could potentially be a few bumps on the road, but we would see opportunities along the way in other capital projects.”
“When the pandemic hit, and the restrictions hit the first priority obviously had to be public health, and a lot of our efforts were focussed on assisting the HSE and working with the likes of the Guards to ensure that the public health issue was the primary focus. We’re very conscious of the impact on all sectors of the community and all sectors of businesses. There are a whole range of different supports out there that have been put in place at national level, the Covid-19 payments for examples, and there are the supports that the LEO offices are providing to various businesses whether they’re through vouchers or training or so on. And there’s the rates remission for the three months that has been announced.
We will do what we can to try and assist the local economy.”
While the immediate future looks challenging for the economy across the country, Mr Hayes says that the work that has been carried out in recent years will stand Sligo in good stead as the town and county gets back on its feet in the coming months.
“I certainly think Sligo is in a far better position now than it was 10 years ago when we had a financial crash and the fact that we’re in the middle of quite a considerable government investment of over €250 million in capital projects, I think that will certainly benefit Sligo.
“We’re also advancing the projects such as the Eastern Garavogue bridge, the Cultural Plaza in what is now the Stephen Street car part and the indications are the funding is still in place for those. There are other projects we are now advancing as well; we are going out to tender for the Surf Centre in Strandhill. Sligo will have a far better standing in emerging out of this particular crisis than we did ten years ago.”