New plan to sustain strong rural communities

FINE Gael’s commitment to supporting rural communities has been significantly enhanced by a new plan that includes a wide range of initiatives to support the regeneration of rural towns and villages.

That’s the view of Clare Fine Gael General Election candidate Leonora Carey who said that the party’s Blueprint for Supporting Rural Communities will ensure that, if elected to the next Government, they will be able to build on the strong foundations over the next five years. 

“Fine Gael is the Party of Rural Ireland. We established a dedicated Department of Rural and Community Development which has delivered unprecedented investment in towns, villages and parishes across County Clare,” she explained.

“We’re the Party that signed the contract for the National Broadband Plan, one of the largest ever investments in rural Ireland and the modern day equivalent of rural electrification. This has made a real difference to communities all across the county.

“Our new policy places a major focus on combating vacancy and dereliction. We will double the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund to €2 billion so we can deliver more large scale ambitious projects in rural towns and villages.

“We will introduce a new €100,000 Town Centre Living Grant to support the renovation and conversion of above-the-shop type premises recognising the additional complexities in renovating these premises.

“We will significantly expand the mandate of Connected Hubs so that these facilities can act as an incubation space for local entrepreneurs and start-ups as well as a potential landing space for workers in FDI companies.

“Fine Gael will complete the roll-out of the national broadband plan on budget and on schedule ensuring every home, business and farm in County Clare has access to high speed fibre broadband by 2026.

“We will create 300,000 jobs over the next five years and, working with our enterprise agencies, we will ensure that the majority of these jobs are in the regions.

“Tourism is critical to our rural economies. I have seen firsthand the economic spin off benefits from projects like the Wild Atlantic Way and we will invest more in our natural amenities, greenways, blueways, forest parks and mountain trails so that we can make Ireland a global destination for outdoor pursuits and adventure tourism.”