A €7m chance to breathe life back into Longford town and Connolly Barracks

Longford / Westmeath TD Joe Flaherty has welcomed full government support from An Taoiseach for an application from Longford County Council for the regeneration of the Connolly Barracks campus.

The new THRIVE (Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme) programme will provide up to €7m for the regeneration of a key town centre historic building.

According to Deputy Flaherty Longford County Council are working on this application and will draw significantly from recent public engagement as part of the Draft Longford Town Centre First Strategy.

He commented, “With the official opening of the Skate Park and unveiling of the master plan for the old dog track this Friday; the soon to be published Part 8 planning notice for the upgrade and extension of the astro turf pitch in The Mall; extensive active travel works and regeneration works at the Market Square and Shopping centre car park, we are starting to see some movement on the county town’s long awaited regeneration.”

The new THRIVE programme will help re-imagine town centres and to transform publicly-owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings such as Connolly Barracks through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse.

Deputy Flaherty concluded, “But as everybody tells me: ‘paths, walkways and cycle paths are all great. We need to get people back into the town centre.’ Now the Council has a €7m chance to breathe life back into the Connolly Barracks, Bridge Street and Lower Main Street area. Let’s get this right.”