Over 90 new jobs for county

The announcement that 94 new jobs are being created in Meath as a result of the latest round of Leader programme investment approved by the board of Meath Partnership has been warmly welcomed this week.
The creation of the jobs in five sectors of the local economy throughout Meath comes on top of 103 new jobs announced by Meath Partnership last April, and a total of 250 full-time equivalent jobs created by Leader in 2012.
The jobs include specialist construction (six in Kells), food sector (14 in Kells and Navan), heritage (19 in Kells and Slane), brewing and distilling (43 in Slane) and tourism (12 in Kells, Trim and Ashbourne).
The news comes at a time when the future of the Leader programme in Ireland is under sharp review by the government, with the intention that it may be axed.
Meath Partnership CEO Michael Ludlow said the government should be big enough to admit that a major policy error has been made and that this should be put right before any permanent damage is inflicted on a programme and a delivery structure “that is the pride of Europe”.