Carrigy says N4 upgrade must be delivered over the next decade as Longford's economic renaissance gathers pace
That's the view of Longford based Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy as hopes continue to grow surrounding the financial well-being of his native county.
Those aspirations were given a sizable boost last week when secondary school meal provider Food Village announced the creation of 200 jobs with the opening of a state-of-the-art food service site at the town's Mastertech Business Park.
That announcement followed hot on the heels of confirmation some two weeks earlier from IDA bosses over how it was closing in on plans to develop a purpose built factory aimed at enticing a large-scale multinational giant to the town.
Details surrounding both those breakthroughs have, according to Mr Carrigy, underlined the importance of advancing one of the region's most critical infrastructural assets.
'It is a key piece of infrastructure for the economic development of our county into the future for the next generation, that we have that direct access to our capital city and airport and that we shorten journey times between the capital and Longford,' he told the Irish Independent.
'There is great people in Longford, it's a great county and we have a great town.'
Hopes surrounding the carriageway's long-awaited upgrade were given a welcome tonic in February when a preferred route was selected following years of funding issues and long-standing delays.
Mr Carrigy said it was imperative the long-awaited project was delivered over the next decade in order to foster and further strengthen the county's upward economic trajectory.
'We have brilliant business people here who have and are putting in long hours to build up their companies and contracts with other companies that are operating at the highest level,' he added.
'That's why other, larger multinationals have looked at other businesses we have here as we have a very good, skilled workforce and we want to make sure we have the necessary infrastructure in place to continue to attract investment into our county which makes it is so important the N4 project is delivered over the next 10 years.'
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