General Election 2016

Regional Digital Hub for Roscommon will rejuvenate local businesses – Murphy

General Election 2016

– Up to €1m will be available to Roscommon County Council under FF strategy –

Fianna Fáil General Election candidate for Roscommon Cllr. Eugene Murphy has secured a commitment to roll out a Regional Digital Hub for Roscommon if elected to Government.

This pledge is part of the party’s policy to support entrepreneurs and start-up by putting the conditions in place to encourage and develop people to take the leap and set up their own businesses.

Cllr. Murphy commented, “Self employed people are a key dynamic force in our economy, but they have largely been ignored by this Government. If we are to create more jobs in Roscommon, we need to encourage local people to set up businesses and support them when they take the risk. Fianna Fáil will use the successful Digital Hub Development Agency (DHDA) model and roll out that blueprint to Roscommon.

“The hub provides office space and business support services to growing technology companies. This pooling of resources cuts down on costs and allows for collaboration with other firms who are in similar positions. This has been extremely successful in Dublin and Fianna Fáil would replicate that model in Roscommon.

“By committing to bring fibre broadband to every home and business in the country, we will ensure that these Digital Hubs have the physical infrastructure to generate an IT enterprise boom across the country.

“Fine Gael has allowed Roscommon to lag behind in terms of job creation. There were only 2 IDA site visits to the county last year, out of a total of 565 nationwide and 242 in Dublin.

“Fianna Fáil wants to spread the economic recovery to all regions, and particularly west of the Shannon, which has been completely neglected by this Government. We will provide up to €1m of funding to each local authority to replicate the DHDA model in their own county to enable entrepreneurs to grow businesses and jobs in Mayo and across the country”.