Towns and villages to get €2.8m for cycle cafes and outdoor cinemas

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Drive through cinemas, cycle cafes and outdoor seating and dining facilities are among the projects to be funded in a €2.8 million package to help rural communities adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic. Minister for Community and Rural Development Heather Humphreys launches the €2.8 million fund on Monday for 106 towns and villages and says it will benefit communities by altering the streetscapes so that people can shop, work and socialise safely.

It is the first round of financial supports for projects that adapt outdoor spaces for social gatherings, dining or the hosting of outdoor events. It will also fund marketing campaigns to encourage people back into towns and villages, support the online presence of towns and villages, and finance infrastructural changes to allow for social distancing. Among the schemes to be funded is the development of a drive through cinema in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, which will receive €22,000 to buy an outdoor cinema screen, generator and outdoor seating.

Funding will also go to supporting the establishment of cycle cafes coffee stops for cyclists on greenways and other rural cycling routes. This is the first tranche of funding announced on Monday under the enhanced €25 million Town and Village Renewal Scheme which has been in place since 2016 to help revive rural communities. Some 500 towns and village are expected to benefit this year as part of the €17 million rural package Ms Humphreys’s department secured in the July stimulus package.

Ms Humphreys said, It is vitally important that we increase footfall in rural towns and villages by supporting them to adapt to this ‘new normal’ as a result of Covid-19.