PLAN’S A ‘GAME CHANGER’ FOR RURAL AREAS

RURAL Affairs Minister Michael Ring yesterday described Project Ireland 2040 as ‘a game changer’ in relation to the development of rural Ireland.

He said the plan will include a €1billion rural regeneration fund and €4.5billion for regional and local roads.

Speaking at the launch of the plan in Sligo IT, the Mayo TD said that Project Ireland 2040 marks a significant milestone in our country’s development.

‘In the next 20 years Ireland will grow by an extra one million people and half of that growth will take place outside of our five main cities,’ he said.

The M20 motorway and Atlantic Corridor linking Donegal to Sligo and Tuam are among the priority projects in the plan. Investment in regional and local roads will total €4.5billion over the next decade.

He outlined other projects for rural Ireland which will include major improvements to the N4/N5, including on the Westport to Turlough section, and the extension of the motorway from Mullingar to Longford.

There will also be a Rural Regeneration Fund, with €1billion overseen by his department, which will fund towns, villages and townlands throughout the country.

An Urban Regeneration Fund will also help rural towns with a population of over 10,000. The plan will also see new ‘capitals’ for rural regions that will become a focus for developing employment in the technology sector.

Sligo, where the plan was launched yesterday, gets special status as a ‘regional centre’, as does Letterkenny in Co. Donegal. Athlone in Co. Westmeath is to be the ‘capital of the midlands’.

There will be a huge new emphasis on renewable energy in rural areas, and turf burning is to be removed from all power stations by 2030.

It will also be easier to get planning permission for one-off houses in the countryside, a move that some environmentalists had opposed.