Ó An Roinn Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail
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Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD and Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, have visited County Monaghan to open rural development projects that help to deliver Our Rural Future.
Our Rural Future is the Government’s rural development strategy, which aims to revitalise towns and villages, promote remote working, and ensure balanced regional development.
The Minister and Tánaiste began their visit with the official opening of the Ballybay Food Hub which has been designed to support Monaghan’s strong food production industry.
The Hub received combined investment of over €400,000, through the LEADER programme and the Regional Enterprise Development Fund.
This funding allowed for the refurbishment of nine industrial units into modern food production facilities.
The facility, which is managed by Enterprising Monaghan, also provides modern office space and meetings rooms.
Speaking at the opening in Ballybay, the Tánaiste, Leo Varadkar TD said:
“It’s fantastic to see the food renaissance taking place in County Monaghan, and the entrepreneurial spirit which is driving it. This new Food Hub aims to encourage new entrepreneurs to use food incubation units to get started on the path to success.”
“We look forward to seeing many new start-up food companies joining this sector, which is thriving in Monaghan. As we emerge from the pandemic and into the new normal, good food and the role it plays in our lives is likely have even greater significance than before.”
“This new project shows the potential that food has for job-creation and creativity in rural Ireland.”
Minister Humphreys said:
“Everyone here today knows well that a vibrant and sustainable agri-food sector is central to Ireland’s economic wellbeing, as well as to supporting rural communities."
“This county has a record of accomplishment in producing a diverse range of product manufacturing, with family and local inputs in the production process."
“Monaghan is one of Ireland’s leading centres for the production of premium food produce."
“Monaghan is also home to some of the largest food producers in Ireland, and an astonishing 90% of its production is exported.”
The Minister and the Tánaiste then went on to visit Moffett Automated Storage in Listroar, Clontibret.
This local, family-run, company designs and manufactures fully integrated, automated warehouse storage systems and have recently been awarded LEADER funding to help them expand and grow their business.
The final stop on the itinerary was in Castleblayney where the Minister and Tánaiste opened new remote working facilities at the Community Enterprise Centre.
The centre was one of the first of its kind when it opened in in 1987 and has been a valuable resource to the local community.
The centre was recently awarded over €50,000 through the Connected Hubs Fund, which is administered by Minister Humphrey’s Department.
Speaking at the opening of the new remote working facilities Minister Humphreys said:
“The increased remote working facilities which will now be offered in the enterprise centre will be an invaluable resource for remote workers and the wider community in Castleblayney.”
“It will provide workspaces and meeting facilities – all underpinned by first class connectivity. This hub will enable more people to live and work in the community.”
“It will give people who might have left to pursue careers in our cities the opportunity to come home again and to assist to revitalise the local community.”
The Minister continued:
“The Castleblayney Hub is one of over 150 facilities that have joined the National Connected Hubs Network to date and this number is growing by the week.”
“Anyone can locate, book and pay for access to hubs all over the country by using the connectedhubs.ie platform that I launched earlier this year.”
The Tánaiste said:
“We want remote working to become a permanent choice for employees as we emerge from the pandemic, which has shown thousands of people that there is another way to work.”
“Remote working won’t suit everyone, but it will suit many. It cuts down on commuting, means more time at home or in the community, and can help to increase productivity. It can also be a huge boost for rural towns and villages boosting footfall and local spend.”
“So it’s fantastic to see this expanded remote working facility in Castleblayney.”
While in Castleblayney the Tánaiste and Minister visited the sites of two major regeneration projects in the town which are currently under construction; the new Castleblayney Enterprise Centre and the Castleblayney Market Square Regeneration Project.
These projects are receiving a combined investment of over €5 million through the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.
Our Rural Future
Our Rural Future is the whole-of-government policy for rural Ireland for the period 2021-2025. It represents a new milestone in the approach to rural development policy for Ireland and adopts a more strategic, ambitious and holistic approach to investing in and maximising opportunities for rural areas.
Connected Hubs Fund
The primary objective of the Connected Hubs Fund is to support and complement the development of a National Hub Network, which is a key action of the Rural Development Policy – Our Rural Future and the National Remote Working Strategy – Making Remote Work.
The fund aims to add additional capacity to the existing remote working infrastructure in Ireland by upgrading existing hubs and Broadband Connection Points (BCPs), while continuing to support COVID-19 measures.
It provides owners, operators and managers of existing remote working facilities and BCPs with the opportunity to identify and develop their own solutions in consultation with local authorities, local business interests, and community groups as appropriate.
National Hub Network
Development of the National Hub Network is a key action contained in Our Rural Future, and the Making Remote Work - National Remote Working Strategy.
The Hub Network provides a shared online platform for hub users and managers, connectedhubs.ie.
This platform provides a hub booking facility for clients and an integrated suite of hub management tools, such as invoicing and scheduling applications for the hub managers.
Over 150 hubs have already been on-boarded and are accessible via connectedhubs.ie.
Castleblayney Enterprise Centre Project (The Ridge Business, Enterprise and Technology Centre)
Monaghan County Council has partnered with Castleblayney Enterprise Development Committee, Monaghan County Enterprise Fund and Castleblayney Regeneration Committee to deliver the project.
The enterprise centre will be a community run centre providing high quality office space for new and existing businesses in the centre of the town.
The building is located on a derelict site with an overall building area of 1,350 sqm (14,500sqft). The project will provide 842 sqm of office accommodation divided into 24 units of variable size in addition to 4 workshop units in the basement floor.
The Enterprise Centre will increase the potential of Castleblayney Town to act as a centre for business investment and support the creation of jobs in the region. Monaghan County Council estimate that 66 jobs will be accommodated within the centre and interest has already been received from Northern Ireland based companies seeking to establish an office in the town.
This project was approved for funding of €2,138,560 from the first call for applications for funding under the RRDF for a project costing €2,673.200. Following procurement the cost of the project increased to €3,483,182. The revised funding for the project is €2,613,136.
The project is expected to be completed in September 2022.
The Castleblayney Market Square Regeneration Project Phase 1 – Category 1
Monaghan County Council has partnered with Castleblayney Regeneration Committee and Castleblayney Community Enterprise Ltd to deliver the Market Square Regeneration Project.
This project will refurbish and extend the existing Gate Lodge building to provide a modern public library, gallery space and associated high quality public realm works.
The project will deliver significant regeneration to enhance the town centre, increasing footfall and commercial activity.
All enabling works were completed in October 2020 and the main project construction works commenced in November 2020. The project is expected to be completed in Q3 2022.
The project was approved for funding of €2,611,150 for a project costing €3,481,543 from the second call for Category 1 projects under the Fund.
LEADER
LEADER is part of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme that is co-funded by the EU, which operates a locally-led, bottom-up, approach to meeting the needs of local communities and businesses. The programme supports private enterprises and community groups in rural areas. LEADER forms part of Ireland’s multi-annual Rural Development Programme which is co-financed by the EU and is part of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
Regional Enterprise Development Fund
In February 2015, as part of an overarching strategy to support regional enterprise development, the Government announced a Regional Competitive Fund with the objective of supporting significant regional initiatives to build on sectoral strengths and/or to better leverage identified resources to improve enterprise capability. The Fund was launched over two calls in 2017 & 2018 with 38 Feasibility and 42 main stream projects approved approx. €60m in funding. These supported projects are located in every region of the country.