Paul Hickey The development of a swimming pool, a crèche, and other social and tourism infrastructure were discussed at a significant public meeting that was held in Ballaghaderreen last night. A large crowd of community activists and business people attended the meeting, which was chaired by the Mayor of Roscommon John Kelly MCC, pictured, Cllrs. Michael Mulligan and Michael Creaton were also present. A steering committee was elected at Wednesday night’s high-profile public meeting in Ballaghaderreen to examine the written submissions of local communities groups in respect of the economic and social development of the town. The steering committee will report to a public meeting that will be held in the town in mid-April. It is envisaged that a Ballaghaderreen Development Task Force that will be established at the mid-April meeting will coordinate the development of the town in the coming years. Roscommon County Council, the County Enterprise Board, the BMW Assembly, the Western Development Commission, FÁS, the County Development Board support the group. The Ballaghaderreen Task Force will coordinate the economic and social development of the town in the coming years. Speaking at the end of the meeting Mayor John Kelly expressed hope that the Ballaghaderreen initiative would base job creation on the development of social infrastructure. ‘Obviously we hope to attract mega companies to Ballaghaderreen in the coming years but this initiative will focus on the development of social and tourism facilities that will both develop the town and create jobs. Ballaghaderreen is currently over-housed and we hope to develop the town in such a way that we’ll attract people to Ballaghaderreen. We’ll cover six or seven interlocking areas that we think need improvement,’ said Cllr. Kelly. Next week the steering committee will examine questionnaires that were circulated in the community recently.
This Week’s Digital Edition
