Mr. Shane Tiernan:

I thank the Senator, who has been involved in many of these projects and has been very committed to them. He makes many interesting points that go back to some of the things I alluded to earlier. Every town and village in rural Ireland is unique. This goes to the jersey and to the pride in parish and place that goes back to times long before the State was established. We can see that the people of villages and areas of a lesser or greater scale want them to survive and thrive. They have passion and belief, and rightly so. There is now a connection between the local authority and established groups. The Senator is right that it is not only about town meetings. If there is change coming about we need to explain it one to one. We have to get out there and we are doing that. We know there is difficulty. Change is always difficult for people and there is pushback. We are trying to bring in plans that we know fit with Government policy, including on climate change, centralised parking, people enjoying towns, open spaces, walking and parking for those who need it, while not allowing them to, as we used to say, drive up to the post office counter, which will not cut it in modern towns. How do we convince people of that, get a level of acceptance and adopt it in our plan? If we were able to do that at the local level, we would know that projects will tick the boxes and get the funding at Government level. We have made enormous inroads in that regard.

Senator Murphy mentioned the example of Sliabh Bawn. There was a great deal of controversy and pushback from the public at the time with regard to wind energy generation. The Senator would agree that it has come full circle and people are now harmonised with wind generation turbines. In fairness to the companies that delivered it, they invested a great deal in the communities to allow for community activity, nature trails and walks. The volume of people going there is phenomenal.

We mentioned Strokestown. A plan has been submitted under the latest call of the rural regeneration and development fund for the regeneration of Strokestown town centre. We have been doing work with the Heritage Council and with Strokestown Park House, where there is a wonderful team. It is now the National Famine Museum. We have secured multimillion euro funding from Transport Infrastructure Ireland to bring greenway infrastructure from Strokestown through Roscommon town and down to the south of the county. That project is going through the various stages.

The Senator also mentioned Rathcroghan. We are making a joint bid for it to become a recognised UNESCO site, with places such as the Rock of Cashel, the Hill of Tara and so forth. We are making a joint effort with local authorities in that regard. All of that coming together is creating significant tourism potential in Roscommon. That is where we see the future. The work we are doing with the towns and villages will, we hope, spur tourism-related enterprises, including what was previously the little shop to which people no longer go because they go to the multiples. There is certainly always a need for smaller shops in towns but there are not as many as there were. That is the piece I have concerns about for the future.

My colleague Mr. Keaveney might talk about the progress of the library in Boyle and the Strokestown repurposing, if that is okay with the Senator, to discuss where the plans stand.