Latest news with #Carrigy
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
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.'
Irish Independent
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
‘Leave politics at the door' – New Housing Oireachtas chair calls for cross party unity in tacking ‘biggest issue' facing the country
Today at 04:35 A government TD elected chairperson of an Oireactas committee tasked with leading the State's response to Ireland's ever growing housing crisis has said the time has come to 'leave politics at the door' in order to broker real and lasting change. Longford-Westmeath Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy issued the appeal as he addressed members of the Oireacthas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage following his appointment by Tánaiste Simon Harris two weeks earlier. Mr Carrigy has already spoken of his own awareness over the challenges his new role will likely bring alongside a need to remove some of the barriers that have continued to hamstring the industry. And, in a broader plea to his fellow committee members, Mr Carrigy underlined comments made by Fianna Fáil TD Séamus McGrath over the need for a universal political approach going forwards. 'Working together, we will make changes,' he stressed. 'This is the biggest issue we have in our country at the minute. I agree with the comments of Deputy McGrath that we leave politics at the door and work together to tease out issues, hold accountable those who need to be held accountable, and try to make the changes that we need to improve housing output.' Those calls comes amid fresh forecasts that show Ireland will struggle to even deliver the same number of homes built last year. Commencement notices, a metric in many housing forecasts, are down 61pc in the first quarter of this year. Data from the Central Statistics Office shows 5,938 new homes were completed in the first three months of this year, a 2pc increase on the same period last year and a trajectory that is unlikely to see overall targets reached by December. Those challenges are ones which are mirrored by last month's new record high for homelessness figures. The latest Department of Housing figures showed there were 10,743 adults and 4,675 children in emergency accommodation, including 2,212 families. The overall number of people who are homeless is, however, thought to be much higher given that monthly figures do not include people sleeping on the streets, couch-surfing or those who access accommodation in domestic violence refuges or Direct Provision.
