Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I, too, want to be associated with the welcome for Senator Clonan.

I welcome the announcement today by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media of the basic income for artists. Members of the relevant Oireachtas joint committee prioritised this for the arts scene.

Last Thursday, I attended the opening of the co:worx working hub in Edgeworthstown, County Longford. I pay tribute to the committee involved. Four years ago, the Ulster Bank branch closed, leaving no financial institution in the town. The ATM facility is gone. A local group approached me, other public representatives and the local authority with a view to purchasing the former Ulster Bank property. Longford County Council did so and now we have a state-of-the-art co-working hub with a link to the Technological University of the Shannon, Athlone. It is an ideal example of a negative turned into a positive. It is important to put on the record my gratitude to the committee for the work it has done.

Planning permission was recently turned down for the development of a primary care centre in Edgeworthstown, a town of over 2,000 people. Such a centre is important infrastructurally to any town, particularly a growing town such as Edgeworthstown. Permission was turned down due to a lack of capacity in the sewage treatment plant. I contacted Irish Water and was informed that there is some capacity at the plant. Therefore, I ask that when the application is resubmitted, planning permission be granted subject to joining the public scheme. Infrastructure like that in question must not be turned down when people are prepared to invest money to develop it in a growing town.