Call for LEADER office in Curraghboy to be reopened

A member of Roscommon County Council has claimed that the south of the county is being “ignored again” due to the on-going closure of the LEADER office in Curraghboy.

Cllr Tony Ward raised the issue by way of a motion at the Athlone Municipal District of the Council last week and received unanimous backing from fellow members for his call to have the office reopened as soon as possible.

In his motion, the Independent Cllr called on the council and Roscommon LEADER Partnership Company to reopen the Curraghboy office, which “served all of South Roscmmon which has a catchment area of twenty thousand people.”

Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Cllr Ward claimed the continued closure of the LEADER office in Curraghboy is “another example of the way in which South Roscommon is being ignored again” by those in positions of authority.

“South Roscommon is the fastest-growing area of the county, and I have community groups continually coming to me and asking when the Curraghboy office is going to be open and I can’t answer that question,” he said.

The local Cllr said the Curraghboy office is fitted out to “a very high standard” but has lain idle for over two years now. “This has absolutely nothing to do with Covid and it was closed with no consultation whatsoever with the local community or with anybody, for that matter.”

Cllr Ward received the strong backing of his fellow Cllrs from the Athlone Municipal District, Cllrs John Keogh, Donal Kilduff, Laurence Fallon and John Naughten for a letter to be sent to the CEO of Roscommon LEADER Partnership Company, Martina Earley and Chief Executive of Roscommon County Council, Eugene Cummins, calling for a reopening of the Curraghboy LEADER office as a matter of urgency.