This article is from page 83 of the 2008-07-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 83 JPG
A NATIONAL funding project, which is expected to be scrapped, could spell bad news for the pro- posed arts centre in Shannon.
The provision of an arts centre in the town has been on the cards for several years. However, it will be de- pendent on funding.
According to the mayor of Shan- non, Councillor Gerry Flynn (Ind), the “Gateway Innovation Fund’ is to
come to an end.
The fund was put in place to facili- tate regional community initiatives and was to pump €3 million into projects across the country between now and 2010.
It was hoped that money would be funded for the Shannon arts centre under this initiative.
Cllr Flynn said he was in receipt of a report that suggested the scheme was going to be scrapped.
“T think it spells alarm bells for us.
We were hoping for funding under that,” said Cllr Flynn.
He said the centre ties in with the master plan for Shannon and given the economic downturn, he had fears for the overall project.
“It was an area of funding that put forward the idea of regional and bal- anced initiatives. For TC2 and TC3 (the master plan for Shannon), there is every chance the developers we have on standby might decide not to develop. It cuts down our options,”
he said.
However, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) pointed out that while it was 1m- portant for the arts centre to be built, there were other potential sources of funding. “It is going to challenge us. It was a potential source of revenue, but not the only source of revenue,” she said.
Sixmilebridge-based Cllr John Crowe said the revelation was a “bombshell”, given that so much work had been put into the centre.