A sum of €50,000 euro has been adopted into the Roscommon County Council budget for the re-opening of Castlerea Fire Station.
The proposal was brought forward by Councillor Pascal Fitzmaurice and his fellow municipal district colleagues at a meeting on Thursday.
Earlier this year several locals and elected representatives called for a full fire service to be restored in the west Roscommon town following its closure in 2017.
While more funding will be required to re-open the station Councillor Fitzmaurice believes this is a positive first step.
He says the money has now been ring-fenced and will assist with the recruitment of staff sometime next year.
'It has been adopted now in the budget, and that money now has been ring-fenced for that particular purpose , in the year of 2023.
It may be later in the year of 2023 when that comes into play but at least we have the money now in the budget for the first initial part of re-opening the fire station and of course it'll take a significant amount of money to get it re-opened , but this can start the process of looking at recruiting staff for re-opening of the station.'
