Local Minister says Westmeath Town and Village Renewal funding is 'shockingly disappointing'

A government minister has described the level of Town and Village Renewal funding allocated to Westmeath as "shockingly disappointing".

Longford Westmeath Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy, who is Minister of State with responsibility for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, welcomed funding allocated to projects in Moate and Fore as "very welcome" but hit out at what he said was "a kick in the teeth" for a number of other projects.

€81,000 was awarded to Moate Museum for refurbishment works and €100,000 to Fore footpath extension works to complete the looped walk.

However, Troy said: “The total of €181,000 awarded for two projects across the entire county is a real kick in the teeth for all of the community groups out there who work so hard in their respective areas and submitted some very positive applications to this scheme.

"For example I am personally aware of a number of projects in areas such as Rosemount, Ballymore and Rathowen which I believe should have been successful in securing funding.

"In comparison all of our nearest neighbours seem to have faired substantially better through this funding stream. Offaly and Roscommon received over €800k each, Cavan just over €700k and Longford over €400k.

"Westmeath, by some distance has received the lowest funding of any county in the country. I have contacted Minister Heather Humphreys and asked her to urgently clarify if she will be awarding further funding to projects in Westmeath, firstly as there are positive projects out there which should receive funding and secondly the Minister should look to address the obvious imbalance in funding that exists.

"I have also asked Minister Humphreys to provide details on the assessment process and to provide the final scoring which was awarded to all applications received from Westmeath. I look forward to receiving this clarification from Minister Humphreys and I would hope that following my communication the Minister will move to address the shortfall in funding to our county”, concluded Minister Troy.