The National Development Plan which outlines capital investment for the entire Country, announced by the Government last week, is a major set back for Laois, a local TD has claimed.
“Portlaoise and Laois have been ignored in this plan,” says Deputy Sean Fleming.
“Development in the county will have to occur through the hard work and endeavour of people in Co. Laois, in spite of the Government rather than with the assistance of the Government.
“Shockingly, there is no investment listed for the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. The Government has listed several hospitals in many other locations for capital investment.
“The decision to specifically exclude Portlaoise sends a very bad signal for the future of the hospital. This must be corrected immediately.
“Designating Athlone as a special area for development in the Midland Region means the IDA and Enterprise Ireland will concentrate on Athlone for future investment and job creation and it will make our work even harder in Co. Laois to bring much needed investment into the county.
“When it came to Laois in this National Development Plan; we did not even get the crumbs off the table we got the stale crumbs off the table,” added Deputy Fleming.
“The Government has announced the building of a mental health unit in Portlaoise, the construction of which is well underway.
“They announced the road extension from the Abbeyleix road to the Timahoe road in Portlaoise for which funding had already being announced and the work is already scheduled to commence.
“They mentioned a new Courthouse which is already at the final stage of approval and they also mentioned work in the old Portlaoise Prison which has been ongoing for some time.
“Finally, they mentioned that they will assist in the design of a renewal project for the town centre of Portlaoise. While this announcement is very welcome, it is a tiny contribution for the entire county compared with the vast investment programmes for every other county in the country.”
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