Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In Project Ireland 2040, we set out a hub and spoke strategy. Athlone was one of the towns designated for growth to become a potential new city and to help attract IDA Ireland and foreign direct investment, FDI, jobs into the region. That is happening successfully in Athlone, which is fast becoming the silicon heartland. It now has more tech jobs per capitathan anywhere in northern Europe. However the difficulty is that the other towns in the area, namely, Longford, Roscommon, Ballinasloe, Mullingar and Tullamore are not benefiting. The spoke is not working. What are we doing to deliver on that objective?

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