Longford in line for major centre of excellence facility
A “tentative location” has been identified for a state of the art centre of educational excellence in Longford town.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Martin Monaghan has revealed moves are afoot to try and establish a facility which will be aimed at bolstering Longford's apprenticeships and IT based sectors.
“We are looking for the LWETB to come on board and put in a centre of excellence for trades,” he said.
“There is a huge demand out there at the minute. The building trades are crying out for it and we also want to provide apprenticeships for the likes of Abbotts and computer trades.”
Cllr Monaghan told of how he has been working on delivering the proposed centre for a number of months, something which he maintained could underpin Longford's continued regeneration drive.
“We are shipping the youth out of here every night, noon and morning to every college in the country,” he said.
“What this will do is it will bring these people back.
The local businessman and Longford Municipal District elected member said the arrival of an educational campus to the county town would also open the region up to further socio economic possibilities.
“A disposable income brings in a different cohort of people and if it gets off the ground then we will then have to look at getting in extra accommodation,” he added.
Cllr Monaghan played down any likely cost barriers to the plans by instead alluding to the “guts of €100m in grants” Longford County Council already has at its disposal in regeneration funding.
“Every other county has some sort of an educational hub and it’s time for us to have our own,” he said.