Westmeath’s own Minister of State made his first public address in Tullamore on Wednesday night, March 23, as he launched the Midlandsireland.ie brand.
It was a jovial affair as he was introduced by his proud brother Cllr Johnny Penrose, Cathaoirleach of the Midland Regional Authority.
“There’s not enough room for both of us on these steps,” joked the Midlands only representative at the new cabinet table, as they passed each other approaching and leaving the stage, much to the amusement of around 130 people.
Minister Penrose said it gave him great pleasure to launch the new brand and spoke of his personal pride for Westmeath.
He congratulated the Midlands Regional Authority for its work and said the new brand will highlight “a significant destination for enterprise, tourism, leisure, centres of excellence for education and culture”.
“I’ve no doubt that we have comparable advantages which we should exploit in this area by coming together,” he said, emphasising that regional tourism and indigenous investment will be extremely important.
“Regions do matter,” he said. “The way regions present themselves and both the communities that define them and the investors that will advance them is especially important.”
“We may be down on our knees,” he said, “but we are resilient and will fight back.
“Cohesion is the essential ingredient in making regions work,” he said but added that “this is not an attempt to suffocate our pride in our own local jerseys”.
“The launch of a regional brand like Midlandsireland.ie is evidence that local authorities in Ireland understand and accept the importance of representing their localities by thinking and acting strategically,” he added.
He said this will cause people and businesses to “sit up and take notice” of the Midlands.
He concluded by cheerily advising local representatives gathered at the event to go to Bloomfield House in Mullingar this weekend to support “one of your own”, Cllr Tom Allen as he takes to the stage as TR Dallas.
“I’m delighted to have my first official function with you, and a very important function indeed,” he told the gathering.
