Galway Bay fm newsroom – The impact of a new rural revitalisation scheme on Galway’s towns and villages has been called into question.
County Galway is expected to be allocated €380,000 for the revitalisation of towns and villages with populations of less than 5,000.
It’s part of a national fund of over 10 million euro for 200 towns and villages in rural Ireland – including eight across County Galway.
The towns and villages to benefit from the funding will be selected by councillors in late September.
Communications Minister and Roscommon Galway TD Denis Naughten says there’ll also be an opportunity for local communities to have a say on how the money’s spent.
However the scheme is being criticised by Roscommon Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice who has described it as ‘window dressing.’
Deputy Fitzmaurice says there are far more serious issues to be addressed like poor mobile phone signals, and access to healthcare.
He says the funding will work out at around 45 thousand euro per town or village – and the money will not go far.