Labour Rep Katie Harrington is urging the people of Galway to engage with a new survey on the future of our towns and villages.
Ms Harrington said that between the closure of bank branches, loss of retail and the move to online services, the future of our towns and villages is at risk. The pandemic has shown the importance of local services but also accelerated the move online endangering more shops.
“The Labour Party is carrying out a major national survey to hear what the people think needs to be done to support our main streets and empower our towns and villages.
“We can’t continue to lose commercial services, banks, post offices, shops and pubs and expect County Galway to thrive. We need a major rethink about what we can do to save our towns.”
The survey at https://www.labour.ie/townsurvey asks people from around Ireland what facilities are most important to them as we move into post-pandemic life, including health, education, and recreational facilities. It also asks communities how they would like to see vacant buildings in their towns used.
Harrington said: “Just last week the government launched another plan to save rural Ireland but we’ve seen it all before. The plan was short on details, with no targets or deadlines, and most importantly no budget allocated to make it a reality.
“The people of Galway deserve a say in their future, so we are asking all Galwegians to participate in the survey,” she concluded.
