Editorial: Athlone has many positives to hang on to

The Prime Time special on Athlone which was broadcast last night (after this paper went to press) has set many locals to thinking as to the town's current status. RTÉ initially chose Athlone as a sort of litmus test for the economic health of the nation - the town's central location at the heart of Ireland ensured it was an obvious choice from which to draw national conclusions. However, in many ways, Athlone is not an ideal town from which to take the pulse of the country. Athlone, due to its distance from Dublin and the arrival of the motorway in more recent years, has not suffered to the same extent from the effects left behind when the waves of the housing boom receded. In other towns, the outgoing tide left ghost estates, huge urban conglomerations without basic facilities and isolated communities. Other Midlands towns have endured a far worse plight. Yes, there are many with negative equity - and many areas of the region, including Monksland and Bealnamulla, where facilities are only beginning to catch up with the growth in housing and population. Elsewhere, Athlone has shown strong local vitality. The Athlone Towncentre was developed by local businessman and continues to provide employment to large numbers of workers. Private enterprise has remained active in the area - and there are rumours of significant private investment projects in the coming months in the area, driven by local business people. It is also evident that the credit crisis is also hitting local business people who are struggling to gain access to funding. Consumer confidence has also fallen leaving many shop keepers And in the wake of the recession, some of the large name stores have upped sticks and left the town, leaving empty units in the town's two main shopping centres. In terms of the State, we are fortunate to have large employers such as the Defence Forces, the Department of Education and the State Exams Commission to name but three. Athlone Institute of Technology is another key factor in the future development of the region. The flipside of that is that the town may have suffered disproportionately from the wage cuts and pension levies in the public sector. The foreign industrialists are well represented in the region too, through the likes of Elan and Ericsson as well as more recent arrivals, KCI and PPD. The TriAthlone, Athlone Music Festival, Athlone Euro Festival and the sporting facilities provided by the town's GAA, soccer and rugby fraternities are proof of a vibrant community scene. However, all is not rosy in the garden. Our health services are in disarray. The controversy over Loughloe House is only the most recent example of a system that has failed to deliver for Athlone. Now there are questions marks too over the future of Mullingar, Roscommon and Portiuncula hospital. Unemployment remains a major problem, as does drug abuse and levels of serious crime are worrying. All in all, though, no matter what Prime Time says there are many positives in this area. The key is to be frank about the negatives.