Ballybay Town Councillors are calling on the Government and Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan T.D., to introduce a town renewal scheme in the forthcoming budget.

Proposing the motion at their last meeting, Cllr. Michael Smyth stated that it was a good time to introduce such a scheme for small towns like Ballybay.

 Cllr. Smyth proposed that there would be a town renewal scheme similar to that introduced 10 years ago, where tax relief would be provided for expenditure on existing residential and commercial developments and that this relief would apply to expenditure on refurbishment.

Such a scheme would lead to an improvement in the overall image of small towns but more importantly would lead to employment for small contractors and hopefully lead to new investment in business in these towns.

 On the residential side the scheme would have the benefit of enabling properties now in disuse to be converted to residential use and hence breathing new life into our main streets.

 Cllr Smyth was of the view that such a scheme would be tax neutral but the benefits would be substantial.

 Cllr. Smyth who is Mayor made a formal proposal to the Minister for Finance on behalf of the Town Council.