Regional Imbalance Public Meeting to take place in Glenties

Sinn Féín MEP for Midlands Northwest Chris MacManus will host a public meeting on addressing regional imbalance and reversing rural decline.

The meeting will take place in Glenties Community Centre on Monday, November 13, at 7pm. It will feature contributions from Sinn Féin spokesperson for finance, public expenditure and reform Deputy Pearse Doherty, Cllr Marie Therese Gallagher and representatives of local community organisations. 

MacManus has encouraged the public to attend the meeting and join the discussion on delivering change for the West and Northwest.

“Delivering balanced regional development and standing up for the West and Northwest has always been a key priority for Sinn Féin and I am delighted to be hosting this discussion on addressing regional imbalance and reversing rural decline in Glenties,” he said.

“Over the past number of decades, our region has suffered from neglect and a lack of opportunities for those of us who live here, particularly in County Donegal. The EU’s downgrading of the Northern and Western region in recent years to being a lagging region and one ‘in transition’ highlights the urgency of addressing this problem.

“We need positive discrimination for the region to turn this around and revitalise the economy in the West. The only thing that will reverse this decline is major investment in infrastructure and public services. I have been calling for Cohesion funding, State Aid flexibility, the billion euro allocation of the RRF and the Brexit Fund to be used to offer a ready-made investment package to provide for this. 

“There is no doubt that the current approach to regional development needs to change urgently in order to ensure that this part of the country has a sustainable future. I would encourage people to attend our meeting on Monday, November 13 to join the discussion on how we can bring about change for our region.”