Ms. Majella Hunt updated the members on recent developments in her Directorate:

·         LCDC meetings continue to be held and projects are ongoing.

·         The Boyle Age Friendly Strategy is complete and due for launch when restrictions ease.

·         The Integration Strategy, in partnership with LEADER, is progressing.

·         A number of projects in the Heritage Programme have been rescheduled to later in the year. There have been initiatives facilitated online including ‘identify monuments in your area’ and some biodiversity projects rolled out.

·         The Gallery in the Arts Centre is opening next week and the auditorium not expected to open until the end of August.

·         The tourism programme has also been affected by the pandemic restrictions but the tourism officer is busy preparing for the reopening of some of the facilities in the county including King House. The Hidden Heartlands taskforce met today and is working with providers to ensure the safe reopening of tourism facilities. The tourism market is expected to be very much a domestic market this year.

·         There has been significant activity in the Local Enterprise Office with small businesses seeking to avail of the services offered including many initiatives from the Government such as online vouchers and business continuity vouchers. There have been extensive mentoring webcasts held.

·         The Library opened on a limited basis on 8^th June. “Call and Collect” is the primary means of getting library books is available since 16^th June.  There was a large uptake on the e-facilities offered by the library during lockdown. Unfortunately because of space restrictions, we can only provide public access in three of our libraries as Strokestown and Elphin remain closed to the public.

·         Under the Creative Ireland Programme the Crinniu na nÓg festival was held online.

·         Global Rossie Day was deferred to 5^th July as a mark of respect to the later Det. Garda Colm Horkan.

·         The Regeneration Programme involves URDF, RRDF, Town and Village, Outdoor Recreation and Historic Town Initiatives and an update on the progress of the major projects including Roscommon Town, Boyle, Castlerea and Monksland projects was detailed. There is an investment totalling €20million in all of these regeneration projects with Roscommon County Council contributing €5million in matched funding.

The members thanked the Director for the update and raised a number of questions:

·         Is there funding for social distancing projects?

·         Can the library in Elphin be facilitated in an alternative location?

·         Can the Council send staff to some small villages to help develop applications for funding? Small towns and villages need an opportunity to compete.

·         Can the library be opened before the schools are back in September?

The Director responded as follows:

·         Funding has been announced for Covid-19 projects (10 projects over two tranches).

 matching funding is 10% - closing date for EOI is tomorrow.

·         The focus is on villages this year as agreed at the last budget with the fundamental requirement to have community structure that can identify the needs of the village in cooperation with RCC

·         The initial service provided by the libraries was call and collect by appointment. Last week this was extended to browsing– the public admitted in Roscommon on restricted basis of two days per week and only for books, not for internet or other facilities. We will be examining all libraries as to what services can be provided depend on the restrictions

·         The Council have looked at what funding is available for relocation of Elphin library but nothing is currently available.