Minister for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciaran Cannon, has said the €1.63 million funding to be allocated for Loughrea Town Hall is an historic moment in the life of Loughrea.
Deputy Cannon said; “In 2018, I invited Rural Development Minister Michael Ring to visit Loughrea to meet with Cllr Michael Maher, Cllr Jimmy McClearn, Shane Donnellan, and others. We outlined to him the very ambitious plans we had for the development of the town both economically and culturally.
“Over the last number of months I worked closely with LARC, Loughrea Chamber of Commerce, Loughrea Credit Union, and the Galway County Council in preparing a superb application for funding and submitting it to Minister Ring. The application focused on the redevelopment of Loughrea Town Hall to include;
a 158 seated theatre and multi-functional space for arts, culture, creative, and community endeavours which will become the cultural core of our town.
a dynamic tourism information office which will connect tourists and our community to our tourism assets and an active events calendar.
a digital + creative enterprise hub which will create 74 jobs within three years with an injection of €3.5 million additional spend into the local economy.
“This morning, Minister Ring has confirmed to me that he is allocating a grant of €1.63 million to Loughrea Town Hall under the Rural Regeneration Development fund.
“This is an historic moment in the life of Loughrea. Our newly refurbished town hall will now become a cultural and economic flagship for our whole region. I want to say a very sincere thanks to all of the great people in LARC, Loughrea Chamber of Commerce, Loughrea Credit Union, and Galway County Council who worked closely with me in making the case for this funding.”
Minister Cannon added: “This is how communities succeed, by working together, by pooling our expertise, our wisdom, and our energy. We were also fortunate to be able to avail of the expertise of Orla Casey of Momentum Consulting in preparing a superb application for funding.”
