€628,000 for Midland outdoor recreation
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has today (Thursday March 28th,) announced funding of €4.1 million to develop and enhance over 150 outdoor recreation projects. The investment, under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS), will be key to enhancing our mountain trails, forest walks, cycleways, rivers, lakes and beaches. It will also […]
Midlands Companies for National Enterprise Awards, 2024
Four Midlands companies are going forward to the 2024 National Enterprise Awards, which takes place at the Mansion House in Dublin on May 23rd. 31 companies will be competing against eachother for a share of the €35,000 prize fund. The National Enterprise Awards are the highlight of the small business and enterprise calendar. Categories this […]
New Longford Literary Trail Audio Tour
A new audio tour to guide visitors along Longford’s 73km Literary Trail has been launched. The audio tour, which celebrates Longford’s rich literary history at nine points along the trail, is now freely accessible to visitors online here. The audio tour includes interviews with local people and excerpts of actors from Longford’s Backstage Theatre, covering […]
Local Enterprise Week, Midlands 2024
Local Enterprise Week is organised every year by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices across the country. This year Local Enterprise Week takes place from Monday, March 6th to Friday, March 10th! Check out some of highlights taking place in the Midlands region. Longford Highlights Join the Local Enterprise Office Longford, in conjunction with Longford Chamber, on Monday, 4th March 2024, […]
Midlands allocated €15.5 million for Active Travel
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has allocated €15.5 million in funding to local authorities in the Midlands with a view to spending on walking and cycling infrastructure in 2024. This substantial investment will fund approximately 800 Active Travel projects throughout the country, with 1,000km of new and improved walking and cycling infrastructure between 2020 and […]
Athlone Hosts Inaugural Para-Athletics Festival
At the recent Indoor Diversity Games and Para Athletic Festival in Athlone’s International Arena, schools from all over the midlands took part in both individual and team categories. Six of the ten team categories contested were won by Offaly schools. This js part of a new competition concept known as Future Stars. The Indoor Diversity […]
Midlands Arts Grants for 2024
Here are a selection of the Arts Grant funding available now throughout the midlands. The funding is essential to ensure a standard of high quality art is produced by artists in the region. It serves It offers to support artists for a period of time, and in so doing responds to the needs of those […]
636 new jobs supported by Local Enterprise Offices in the Midlands in 2023
Local Enterprise Offices provided support to the highest number of jobs across the country since it began in 2014. In 2023, it contributed to the creation of 6,640 jobs across the country. 82% of new jobs created by LEO client companies were outside of Dublin. 636 of these new jobs were in Laois, Longford, Offaly […]
Lough Ree Distillery enters new phase
The family-run Lough Ree micro-distillery began in 2018 in Lanesborough, County Longford. Now entering Phase 2, a full-scale commercial whiskey distillery and visitor experience is about to begin construction on site. With sales and exports growing, a new site is required to enable greater production of it’s multi award winning whiskey, gin and vodka. Producers […]
Excitement builds for Longford Lights Festival 2024, as new director appointed
Birr-based artist Caroline Conway has been announced as the new Artistic Director for Longford Lights, 2024. As preparations ramp up in advance of the February festival, Caroline Conway, (who was a lead artist in the 2023 festival), takes the helm for the 2024 event. The Longford Lights festival will take place over three evenings in […]
Midlands schools to benefit from almost €500,000 in STEM funding
Minister for Education Norma Foley TD has announced a trebling of the budget for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) grants to €4.7m. The announcement, which comes as a result of phenomenal demand, marks a significant stride towards advancing STEM education in schools nationwide. Midlands schools will benefit from almost a half a million in […]
Midlands Census 2022 – Employment, Occupations and Commuting
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released Census 2022 Profile 7 – Employment, Occupations and Commuting. Here are highlights of some of the main results for Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford. The publication focuses on people at work, unemployed, and outside the labour force, occupations and main sectors of employment, as well as on the commuting patterns […]
Minister Humphreys announces almost €300,000 in funding for Outdoor Projects in the Midlands
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, has announced funding of almost €2.3 million to support the development of 50 outdoor adventure projects across Ireland. The investment under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS) will be key to enhancing outdoor amenities such as our walkways, cycleways, rivers, lakes and beaches. The projects, when ultimately […]
Midlands Christmas Markets & Santa Visits
If you want to find out where your local Christmas Market is this year, have a look at our list of where and when they will be taking place across Laois, Longford, Westmeath and Offaly. Supporting local is the driving force behind many of our local Christmas Markets. It is an opportunity to meet old […]
A look at Midlands Science Week
The Midlands Science Festival, supported by Science Foundation Ireland, as part of National Science Week, is taking place from 7th – 19th November. The theme for Science Week 2023 is Human, which asks people to consider what it means to be human in today’s world, and how the decisions we make today will impact the […]
Connecting our Business Community takes place in Longford
Businesspeople from all over Longford participated in “Connecting our Business Community” – a networking event which perfectly demonstrated the strength of enterprise in the region, with a huge turnout of businesses from major multinationals, to successful exporters, to local SME’s. Hosted by the Longford Local Enterprise Office as part of Longford County Council; the event […]
Midlands Sports Clubs to get over €553,500
As part of a €4.86 million investment from the Department of Sports and Culture, through the Dormant Accounts Funding in Local Sport Partnerships, sport clubs in the midlands are due to receive €553,500 euros in funding. The Dormant Accounts Fund enables unclaimed funds from accounts in credit institutions in Ireland to be utilised to support […]
Top 10 Events for Culture Night in the Midlands
The theme for Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir is One Night for All-Oíche Dár Saol. Culture Night / Oíche Chultúir on Septmeber 22nd is a national moment, celebrating culture, creativity and the arts and seeks to actively promote the belief that this rich and varied culture is alive, treasured and nurtured in people’s lives, today and […]
Local Enterprise Village showcases Midlands Companies at the Ploughing Championships
Spotlight on Four Midlands Businesses at the Local Enterprise Village Year on year, the Local Enterprise Village proves to be one of the most popular destinations for visitors to the Ploughing Championships. This year, over 30 small businesses from across the country will get an opportunity to sell and promote themselves to crowds of almost 300,000 […]
ESB confirms €500,000 Longford community dividend under Just Transition
Longford County Council is delighted to welcome confirmation that ESB is delivering on its commitment, outlined as part of Just Transition, of making a community dividend of €500,000 available to the Lanesborough area. It comes as the ESB also confirms that ownership of one of their former industrial buildings in the town is also to […]
Midlands Events for National Heritage Week
Where history comes alive… The theme for National Heritage Week 2023 from August 12th– 20th is ‘Living Heritage’. This theme is centred around the practices, knowledge and skills that have been passed from one generation to the next and are still in use today. Let’s look at activities taking place in Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Longford […]
International Pike Festival on Lough Ree
“Hundreds of anglers from all over Ireland and abroad want to come here and compete so from now on, there will be no frontiers” (Chris Scally, Lough Ree Angling hub) The 2023 Lough Ree International Pike Angling Festival will be expanded to include the entire body of the lake for the first time, with an […]
Strasbourg Youth Symphony Orchestra set for St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford
The Midlands will welcome the Strasbourg Youth Symphony Orchestra and its performance of “A Symphonic Evening” to St Mel’s Cathedral later this month, as part of Longford’s Cruthú Arts Festival which runs from July 18th to 23rd. The concert on Sunday 23 July, is part of a tour that the OJS (Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes […]
Microsoft Dream Space success for Longford students
Congratulations to Colmcille Broadband Connection Point (BCP), St Joseph’s National School and Scoil Bhríde Glen, who won awards at the first ever national Microsoft Dream Space Showcase, representing both Co. Longford and the broader Midlands region at the STEM event. Prize winners from the inaugural Longford Microsoft Dream Space Showcase, which was held in Edgeworthstown […]
July Festivals in the Midlands
July is always a good month for the smaller festival, the calm before the storm perhaps. Ahead of the big Summer festivals like the Electric Picnic and Fleadh Ceoil na hEireann in Mullingar, let’s take a look at what the smaller festivals are doing across the midlands for the month of July. From Forest Fest […]
Emo Court most visited OPW site in the Midlands
The Office of Public Works (OPW) have announced that 2022 was another successful year for visitor numbers at its heritage sites. The number of recorded visitors last year exceeded 15 million, up by 2.3 million on 2021, an increase of 18%. In the Midlands alone, over half a million people visited OPW heritage sites which […]
Census 2022 : Midlands Region Results
Longford, the second least populated county in the State, has recorded the biggest percentage increase of 14.1 per cent between 2016 and 2022 according to new figures. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 May 2023) released Census 2022 Summary Results, which details the population changes in the six years since April 2016. The […]
Dreamspace becomes reality in Longford
“The best way to predict the future is to build it now, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here today” – Danny Lynch, Head of IT, Longford County Council Microsoft and Ericsson team up with Longford County Council Over 300 local students converged on the Edgeworthstown Community Centre last Friday for a Coding Competition as […]
Biodiversity week, Midlands
Biodiversity Week takes place from Friday, May 19 to May 28 with free events and workshops and aims to engage the public in a range of nature-related activities, from bat walks, to dusk choruses, plant identification events and much more. Let’s have a look at the events taking place across the midlands. Biodiversity week, Westmeath […]
Triple-win for Midlands at Irish Restaurant Awards
At the 2023 Irish Restaurant Awards last night, Longford’s Fiona Egan said she was “Absolutely blown away to have won the All Ireland category for Best Cookery School at the Irish Restaurants Awards”. Fiona Egan Cloughan Farm and Cookery School in Abbeyshrule, were recognised as the Best Cookery School in Ireland to foster a passion […]
New Guestrooms, a great addition to Longford
PV’s Bar & Kitchen, is a newly refurbished Gastro Bar located in the heart of Longford town. It was during Covid, when the Longford couple, Barry and Lisa Lynam, worked hard to get the Ballymahon Street pub ready for opening. When it re-opened, two years ago, it provided 15 jobs to the local area, while […]
Darkness into light, Midlands
Darkness Into Light started in 2009 with 400 people walking in Dublin’s Phoenix Park and has since grown to become a global movement in suicide awareness. This year, hundreds of thousands of people will rise in the darkness and walk into the brightness of dawn in 15 countries, across 5 continents. Many people who have […]
The Yard Hub, Abbeyshrule
The Yard Hub, the new remote working facility ‘The Yard Hub’ has become a symbol of hope for Abbeyshrule. After it’s phenomenal transformation from derelict sheds, Recently, Minister Heather Humphreys officially opened the facility and thanked the Tidy Towns, Waterways Ireland, and Longford County Council’s Regeneration Team for their commitment to the project. She also […]
Granard Booktown Festival
Granard in County Longford is about to become Ireland’s newest booktown. The idea to make Granard into a booktown festival came from a trip to Wigtown in Scotland where arts and books turned the small town of Wigtown into the national book town of Scotland. Like Wigtown, Granard will be filled with book events, writers, […]
Longford celebrates multicultural Ireland
Longford author and photographer Shelley Corcoran’s is releasing a new book called ‘The Most Irish Person‘. It celebrates the beautiful multicultural society Ireland has become over the past decade, featuring children from all different cultures. Because after all, we are all Irish! Shelley’s work has been published in many poetry anthologies and journals and her […]
Where to celebrate World Wetlands day this weekend in the Midlands.
Celebrating World Wetlands Day at Newtownforbes, Longford Where – Scoil Mhuire in Newtownforbes Time – 11am Type – Guided Walk (wear appropriate footwear) They are celebrating World Wetlands Day with LAWPRO, Longford County Council and Newtownforbes Tidy Towns on Saturday 04 February. From 11am at Scoil Mhuire in Newtownforbes there will be a talk with […]
Increased funding for 35 community-based organisations in the Midlands
Minister for Community Development, Integration and Charities, Joe O’Brien, has announced that almost 400 community organisations nationwide will receive additional funding under the Community Services Programme. See below for list of organisations from Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath who received funding. The Community Services Programme is an initiative designed to support community-based businesses, social enterprises […]
Midlands communities receive €4 million in Community Recognition Funding
Minister for Rural and Community Heather Humphreys, and Minister of State Joe O’Brien, have today set out the details of the €50 million Community Recognition Fund. This major initiative, the first of its kind, is designed to specifically support communities across the country that have welcomed and are hosting families and citizens from Ukraine and other […]
Longford Film ‘Lakelands’ set for cinemas and Santa Barbara!
”Last year couldn’t have been much better really” admits Longford filmmaker Robert Higgins, who has just been cited as one of the Irish Independent’s ’50 people to watch in 2023’. Robert is a producer, director and writer, based in Granard, County Longford, who operates the film production and digital media company ‘Harp Media’ with Patrick […]
Longford students win World Design of the year
Two young students from Longford, representing Cnoc Mhuire Secondary School have won the Overall Prize for ‘World Design of the Year’ prize at the Junk Kouture World Final in Abu Dhabi. Solomon Eduard and Joshua Osabuehien from Cnoc Mhuire Granard, along with their teacher Charmaine Hetherton, flew out to Abu Dhabi where they competed against […]
RTÉ’s new Midlands Correspondent says she has a “dream job”
When Longford native Sinéad Hussey stepped into the shoes as Midlands Correspondent for RTÉ, she knew that covering the large midlands area would be no easy task. She takes us through some of the big stories she covered in the second half of 2022 when she took up her role and had to hit the […]
Start a new Course in January, 2023?
Why not start the year 2023 afresh by taking up a new course with your local Further Education and Training Centre? We have compiled a list of some part-time and FREE courses taking place across the midlands, that range in skills from ‘Mindfullness’ to Bookkeeping, Art or even Construction. Most people think they can only […]
Family walks in the Midlands over Christmas
Fancy walking off the Christmas turkey, taking a little breather from the in-laws or just dragging your child away from their brand new Nintendo Switch over Christmas? Here are the ‘Midlands Walks of Christmas’, both forest and trail ways, to help you shake off the cobwebs. So lace up your boots, get your scarves ready […]
Brewing up a storm!
Breweries in the Midlands There is no better time of year than Christmas to support your local brewery. Beer consumption in Ireland can often lack variety, as it is often the same beverages that are sold in the majority of pubs. This may be due to demand and lack of knowledge of what else is […]
Over €1.8 million to upgrade 18 Community Centres across the Midlands region
The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, along with the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar TD, have today announced funding of over €1.8 million for the upgrade and development of 18 Community Centres across Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath. The announcement under the new Community Centre Investment Fund represents the largest ever capital investment […]
Technimark to create 80 jobs with €26m investment in Longford facility
Technimark, a global manufacturing leader for the healthcare market, announced today that it will create 80 new highly skilled roles over the next two years as it expands its operations in Longford, with a 50,000-square-foot addition, doubling the size of its existing plant. Technimark will be investing €26 million to expand the facility’s capacity in […]
€500,000 for North Longford Trail
Longford has been given a significant tourism with the news of €500,000 in funding for the region’s north Longford Rebel Trail. The funding, announced by Minister Heather Humphreys, has been allocated for the Drumlish to Monaduff section of the trail which was officially opened in 2020. Cllr Paraic Brady thanked Minister Heather Humphreys, Senator Michael […]
Ireland’s first ever National Hub Summit launched in Athlone
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has today made a series of announcements in support of Remote Working as she launched the first ever National Hub Summit. The Summit in the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone brought together the first ‘in-person’ gathering of businesses, hub managers and policy makers, less than 18 months after […]
Community Monuments Fund 2023 – Call for Projects
€6 million will be invested in next year’s Community Monuments Fund helping owners and custodians of archaeological monuments to safeguard them into the future.The core aims of the Community Monuments Fund are to conserve, maintain, protect and promote local monuments and historic sites. Core Aims of the Fund The core aims of this Fund are […]
Midlands Christmas Markets, when & where!
It is that time of year again where Christmas Markets are getting their stalls ready around the midlands. Packed with local food and crafts, mulled wine and Santa’s grottos, you dont have to go abroad to find your little bit of Christmas before the big day! As early as this Saturday, local markets from Clonmellon […]
Longford store wins Fashion & Footwear Store of the Year!
Longford retailer ‘Fabiani’ was named Fashion & Footwear Store of the Year at the AIBMS Retail Excellence Ireland Awards 2022. Overall Retail Excellence Ireland, announced 10 winners at the glamorous awards ceremony last weekend. The awards, in association with AIB Merchant Services, were hosted in the Galmont Hotel in Galway and were attended by 500 […]
Brilliant line-up at Ballymahon Film Festival
The Still Voices Film Festival begins this week in Ballymahon, Mullingar and Athlone! The community-focused, international film festival, based in Ballymahon, has grown in stature since it began in 2014. It is certainly a quality programme, packed with film screenings, panels and workshops, as well as the always popular children’s animation workshop. Short films are […]
Men’s Sheds in the Midlands to get €62,000.
Every Men’s Shed in the country will receive €2,000, as part of a nationwide grant of €800,000 from the Department of Social Protection. Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, announced the funding to support 400 Men’s Sheds across the country. She said “I’m delighted to be in a position to support our […]
New Glamping site proposed for Laois
A new glamping site could be on it’s way to the Slieve Bloom Mountains, County Laois. A planning application for ten glamping pods has been lodged to Laois County Council. The proposed development was made by John Maher for Cappanagraigue, Clonaslee on the Maher family farm. He is looking to “construct a glamping development consisting of […]
Sports Partnerships in Midlands get €466,995
The Midlands welcome an announcement today by Sport Ireland of an investment package of €466,995 euros in Tranche 1 Dormant Accounts Funding. The money will aim to boost sports initiatives such as ‘Sports Hubs’, ‘Get Girls Active,’ ‘Youth Leadership,’ and specialised disability training courses. Inclusivity is core within sport and this funding will help engage […]
Halloween in the Midlands
How will you spend your Oíche Shamhna? Let’s have a look at a number of ‘Spooktacular’ events, walks, workshops and film screenings across the Midlands that are happening especially for the Bank holiday weekend and week ahead. LONGFORD Longford’s annual Dead of Night Festival returns this Halloween! This free and frightful festival is sure to scare all […]
6 Green Flag Awards for Midlands Parks
It’s Green Flag time in the Midlands! A total of 6 of the best Parks in the Midlands have won coveted Green Flag Award status for 2022/2023 in the latest accolades from the International Green Flag programme. The Midlands Parks included in this year’s Awards are – The Mall, Longford – Dún Na Sí Moate […]
Midlands celebrates at Irish Restaurant Awards
It was a great night for Midlands Food and Drink at the Irish Restaurant Awards, with the Leinster awards seeing the best in food and drink from our region celebrated at a big annual event for the industry in association with The Irish Times. The quality of food and drink in the Midlands region continues […]
Culture Night 2022
Culture Night is one of the biggest nights in the Arts calendar, we take a look at what’s happening in the Midlands this year. OFFALY are be central to RTÉ’s Culture Night special. They broadcast live from Lough Boora Discovery Park on RTÉ One. The RTÉ Concert Orchestra and a selection of guest artists perform. […]
