Longford's 'wonderful, wonderful community spirit' hailed as over €1m in rural development projects unveiled

The Cavan-Monaghan TD, by her own admission, undertook a “whistle stop” tour of the county by setting the seal on half a dozen educational and recreational facilities.

Ms Humphreys also had the enviable task of officially opening the commemorative celebrations to mark the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Ballinamuck.

The Rural Affairs Minister’s first official engagement came at Moyne Community School where in excess of 600 students greeted her to witness the opening of a €240,000 amphitheatre and multi use sports pitch.

The occasion certainly didn’t appear to be lost on the Fine Gael minister as searing heat and a cavalcade of local councillors flanked her on her ministerial visit.

“It’s always a pleasure to come back,” she politely spelled out to the Leader as she paused for a breather for an interview with the Leader in Aughnacliffe.

“There is a wonderful, wonderful community spirit here and you can see from the events I am attending, it’s about the local community working with their local councillors and their local oireachtas members and they are all working together and that’s what makes the difference.”

Her presence in the scenic north Longford village brought with it the official opening of a 4.2km walkway around one of the county’s most idyllic civic amenities, Loch Leebeen.

The mother of two, like her predecessor, fellow Fine Gael party member, Micheal Ring, is no stranger to bringing a ministerial pot of investment on her sojourns to the county.

It was a humorous anecdote Ms Humphreys playfully alluded to as she addressed members of the public in Aughnacliffe and told of how since 2020, in the region of €30m had been ring-fenced by her department for local projects in Longford.

“You now have three walks and you have done very well to get this far,” she jovially told onlookers.

“In 2017 you got €10,000 for the Aughnacliffe Waterfall, then you came back in 2020 for more money when you got another €20,000 for the Aughnacliffe river walk and in 2021 you got another €20,000 for the Aughnacliffe amenity trail enhancement so altogether €270,000 so well done to the boy who filled the forms in.”

Her light-heartedness didn’t end there as she quipped at how her local Fine Gael colleagues had done well to “look after” the area, an undertaking which constituents had the chance to repay at next June’s local elections.

Joking aside, this was a day that certainly seemed to tick more than a few political and societal boxes for the woman tasked with leading rural Ireland’s post pandemic economic renaissance.

“In total,we have invested €30m in Longford since 2020 and that’s a considerable investment, but I can honestly say it’s a good use of taxpayers money and it is reaping the benefits on the ground,” she said.