Finance Minister Michael McGrath has underlined the Government's commitment to sustainable regional development in his address at the special three-day Regions in Focus 2023 event held in Monaghan this afternoon.
The Association of Irish Region event hosts leading academics and industry experts over the next three days at the Four Seasons Hotel in Coolshannagh, Co. Monaghan. The Director of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, David Minton said this will identify the key challenges of this area has and highlight the under investment in this region. The event brings together leading figures from industry, academia, and policymaking, as well as representatives from all regional assembly.
Speakers at the local event over the next few days will be journalist and climate activist John Gibbons, Dr Brian Caulfield, an expert in sustainable transport from Trinity College Dublin and Dr Brian McCann, a leading transport engineer and lecturer at the Atlantic Technological University who specialises in rural connectivity. The Director of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly says this event is about highlighting the positive's and the negatives.
"The regional assembly would have published reports on town centre vacancy and dereliction but also a seminal report which was titled 'A Region In Transition' which really highlighted the legacy of under-investment across the Northern and Western Region," explained David.
"That's one of the reasons why we're having the conference in Monaghan - it's to showcase some of the incredible work which is going on from an all-island perspective and also to highlight some of the challenges and solutions which are out there."
