The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE government has been urged to prove its commitment to rural Ireland by moving the department responsible for it out of Dublin. At the May meeting of Clare County Council, there was widespread and cross-party support for a motion tabled by Councillor Gabriel Keating calling on the authority to ask the Department of Rural Affairs and Community Development to decentralise “as an indication of their commitment to Our Rural Future policy document”. The Fine Gael member referred to the publication last month of the new strategy document, which runs to 122 pages. “Clare is a mostly rural county and we lead the way in terms of rural development,” he asserted. “We were the first authority to have its own rural development strategy. Now that 80% of public servants are working remotely, this may be our best chance to get a government department and it would mean a huge amount to this county.” The Fine Gael member urged Clare’s seven Oireachtas …
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