Invest in town centres when restrictions are lifted - McGrath

Nenagh-based Cllr Hughie McGrath said that we owe a huge thanks to all the healthcare workers and all in the frontline of bringing the coronavirus under control in Ireland. Small shops, whether groceries or butchers, also deserve to be commended for their efforts and when town needed them, they stepped up to the mark and are open.  Now it is time to invest in, and revive town centres, says Cllr McGrath and he hopes this will be in the new Programme for Government and that we should already be requesting flexible funding to make it happen from the EU.     

Cllr McGrath said: “While I was a member of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), I often called for a more focussed approach to regenerating town centres in EU programmes. I managed to ensure that it was in the political priorities of the CoR and this fed info the new budget planning. Now it's time to deliver on a programme which will be specifically for smaller town centres and I will be contacting my former colleagues in the CoR to support an initiative to allow for small business to thrive in renewed, redeveloped town centres. 
“When we needed the small shops they were there for us, now we can stimulate the economy in those towns when the restrictions lift by investing in towns like Nenagh.”