‘We have to get people back into our towns’
Swinford is to receive €870,000 from the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF).
A grant of €870,000 from the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) will allow Swinford to "return to its former glory as a busy market town", a local councillor has stated.
The money will be used to develop a new public square/marketplace, refurbish the former presbytery into a Community Resource Centre, resurface and renew pedestrian links, create a new access route onto Circular Road, and provide e-charging facilities, bicycle and car parking spaces and landscaped green areas.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Adrian Forkan told last week's meeting of Mayo County Council that the East Mayo town has "been waiting a long time for this" and he paid tribute to his predecessor Michael Smyth for setting the wheels in motion.
"This will help small businesses in the town, make provision for parking and develop places for people to gather. We can build Swinford back into a market town and keep people shopping in the town centre so this is a really good project for Swinford.”
Cllr Forkan warned, however, that with so many people commuting to work, towns in East Mayo are being hollowed out.
“In the Swinford, Kiltimagh, Bohola area where I am from, a huge amount go daily to Westport and Castlebar to work, but as a result, centres of East Mayo towns are being hollowed out because the retail side of things, the local shops, providing footwear, clothing and what kept main streets alive is now finished and retail will never reopen in those towns as online trade has hollowed them out.”
Cllr Forkan warned: “If we don’t get people back into these towns they will go down. We need the small shops, the cafes, the butchers, to keep them alive. In Swinford, we now have a business park and a huge amount of work has gone into getting it back to where it is, but I would like more work to see how do we get businesses into these units and get them back up and running to keep the town alive.”
