Local Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, warmly welcomed Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, to Athlone late last week for a series of engagements.
“It is always good to have a colleague visit the constituency, Minister Paschal Donohoe visiting Athlone and its immediate environs late last week. We visited the students and staff of An Grianán NS in Mount Temple with many great questions and fantastic projects relating to the EU.
“I was interested to hear from the students who were well versed in their topics for discussion and brought up issues on internet safety, well-being, life in politics and many other areas of interest. Their projects and teamwork with third class and sixth class working together was very impressive.
“We then travelled on to the IREO (Irish Regions European Office ) Conference on EU Funding in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone. Interesting to see how collaboration at regional level can have a real impact on worthwhile grant aided projects.
“Local enterprise is always worth supporting and the Elevate Entertainment Centre did not disappoint with an impressive tour of their facility in the heart of the town of Athlone. Interesting to hear of their future plans on energy efficiencies and their electric karts are certainly innovative.
“At the TUS Athlone lecture, I was happy to endorse the great work of the University in offering such an impressive range of courses and to highlight the employment opportunities and career options that are in Europe and available to Irish Students. We need a strong voice in all our European Institutions and I encourage our Irish students to consider Europe as a career path.
“It’s important to bring all Senior Ministers to the constituency as I believe it’s vital for Government to travel outside of Dublin and around the country on a regular basis. My good friend and colleague Minister Donohoe is not long home from the IMF and World Bank meetings in New York where he was representing the Eurogroup in his role as President, so I appreciate he took the time and accepted the invitation to visit the various locations in Athlone. He previously was in Mullingar at the end of last year and he continues to be impressed by the business groups and local residents he meets,” Deputy Burke asserted.
