Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring visited Boyle on Thursday evening to view the proposed work on the former Royal building that his department recently funded.
The Minister also held a meeting with members of Boyle Town Team and local councillors along with the CEO of Roscommon Co Co and local authority personnel.
Also in attendance was former Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh who is contesting the European elections in the Midlands-North West.
Senator Frank Feighan welcomed Minister Ring to Boyle and thanked him for funding a number of projects for the town.
The Senator’s sentiments were echoed by Town Team Chairman Brian Nerney who told the Minister that his support of the town will see real change and has brought an air of positivity into Boyle.
CEO of Roscommon Co Co Eugene Cummins in thanking Minister Ring said “We are living in County Roscommon in the most exciting of the best times for the county, where there is a new sense of energy”.
Senator Maura Hopkins noted that “It is clear that the local people of Boyle are pro active in finding solutions to their problems. I have no doubt how Boyle is responding will be a template that will be replicated all over the country”.
Responding Minister Ring said he was delighted to be in Boyle “a once thriving town with a bright future”.
The Westport native noted that small shops in rural Ireland “were not coming back” but the communities in which they were located “need to look at new ways of reinventing themselves”.
“There is great potential in the plans for the Royal building” he added.
” When we were deciding on who and what projects we would fund under the Rural Regeneration Scheme one of the things we looked at was what towns were trying to help themselves”.
“Boyle was one of those towns and I see a bright future for Boyle but in a different way than before”.
Referring to Boyle’s inclusion under the Pilot Residential Occupancy Scheme, Minister Ring noted that “we won’t fill every shop front, but we will get people living in town’s again, therefore I am delighted that Boyle was one of 6 towns chosen to pilot this project”.
