Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was delighted to visit Athy with the Deputy several months ago. Prior to that, I was there at the time, unfortunately, the Coca-Cola plant reduced its staff there.

I was down there recently for the launch of the Athy food hub project. I saw at first hand the plans to convert the historical old model school building into a food innovation hub. It is a great project supported by Kildare County Council. I know Coca-Cola has made a significant financial contribution towards the project. It will be a fantastic asset for Athy. It is exactly the sort of project the Government should support. It will bring a historic landmark building back into productive use. The Athy project is ready to go. As part of the scheme's criteria, I specifically asked Enterprise Ireland, which will assess these projects, to prioritise shovel-ready projects. It is a competitive process and Enterprise Ireland will assess all the applications. I plan to make announcements at the end of the year.

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