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Midlands Gateway, also known as Lake-Counties Gateway, is an area centered between the Irish airports of Dublin, Shannon, and Knock. The principal urban centres in the Midlands Gateway include Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar. The background to the Midlands Gateway project was the Irish government's National Spatial Strategy, launched in 2002. The counties covered in the plan include County Offaly and County Westmeath.
The strategy is designed to create an integrated linked Gateway comprising Athlone, [1] Tullamore [2] [ failed verification ] and Mullingar [3] [ failed verification ] together with the other surrounding towns in the region with the objective of developing an "internationally competitive Gateway".[ citation needed ]
The Irish government [4] strategy, combined with the associated councils has been formulated with the intention of ensuring the availability of choice in residential, retail, leisure and tourist facilities based on the principles of quality of life and environmental enhancement.[ citation needed ]
The background to the Midlands Gateway project is the Irish government's National Spatial Strategy, which was launched in 2002 with the objective of engendering a "more balanced approach to regional development across the State".[ citation needed ]
The purpose of this strategic framework is to focus more directly on the role of the Midlands Gateway within this strategy in acting as the economic driving force for the development of the Midlands region.[ citation needed ]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2019) |
In order to ensure that the vision for the Midlands Gateway is achieved, a number of partners were identified as of importance to the Midlands gateway's success. These included a number of Government departments, the Industrial Development Authority (Ireland), National Roads Authority NRA, Higher Education Authority (HEA), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and local agencies.[ citation needed ]
Currently,[ when? ] the Gateway does not have direct access to complete Inter-Urban Motorways/Dual-Carriageways, both internally and externally. The Gateway, and in particular the three principal Gateway towns of Athlone, Tullamore and Mullingar, is served by main line inter-urban rail and bus networks, with direct access to urban centres of Dublin, Galway and Sligo, and limited local bus services. However, there is poor rail connection within the gateway. [5] [ failed verification ]
In addition, the Gateway is not directly served by an inland port and, of critical importance, is not currently within one hour drive time of an international airport. There is poor road linkage between the Gateways towns, with limited rail and bus service links. If developed as proposed, the road development proposals announced in the Transport 21 Government Proposal (November 2005) would mean that the Midlands Gateway would attain improved access to Galway, Dublin and Sligo, and therefore also to ports and airports.[ citation needed ] The plan also identified a need to "considerably improve the road infrastructure within and adjacent to the Gateway", as the "existing status is significantly insufficient".[ original research? ]
A report by Indecon concluded that the "scale of the economic challenges facing the Midlands Gateway is very large". The analysis in the Strategic development Framework for the Midlands Gateway report [6] highlighted the following challenges:
Most of the transport system in Ireland is in public hands, either side of the Irish border. The Irish road network has evolved separately in the two jurisdictions into which Ireland is divided, while the Irish rail network was mostly created prior to the partition of Ireland.
Athlone is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of 22,869 in the 2022 census.
County Westmeath is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of Meath, which was named Mide because the kingdom was located in the geographical centre of Ireland. Westmeath County Council is the administrative body for the county, and the county town is Mullingar. At the 2022 census, the population of the county was 95,840.
County Offaly is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in honour of Philip II of Spain. Offaly County Council is the local authority for the county. The county population was 82,668 at the 2022 census.
Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 22,667 in the 2022 census.
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The Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore is a public hospital located in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland. It is managed by Dublin Midlands Hospital Group.
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The Athlone to Mullingar Cycleway is a long-distance cycling and walking trail in County Westmeath, which forms a section of the Dublin-Galway Greenway. It is a 42 kilometres long rail-trail over the disused Athlone-Mullingar rail line beginning in Athlone and ending in Mullingar.