Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 November 2018
4. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if the rural regeneration and development fund could be used for transport projects as the main difficulty in towns such as Tipperary is traffic flow and transport projects are deemed to be the most urgent need for the regeneration of the town; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46357/18]
View answerI was attending a meeting of the Business Committee.
I apologise for missing my slot and thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his co-operation. Can the rural regeneration and development fund be used for transport projects? I am talking specifically about the N24 which runs through Tipperary town. The town is dying, but traffic is the most significant problem. The Taoiseach recently announced that the fund would be €1 billion. Can some of that money be used to alleviate the chronic traffic problem in Tipperary to allow the town to grow?
The first call for applications for the rural regeneration and development fund closed at the end of September. A total of €1 billion has been committed to the fund over a ten-year period to support rural economic development and help to build strong communities. A total of €55 million has been allocated for the fund in budget 2019. The objective of the fund is to drive co-ordinated investment between Departments, agencies, local authorities and other public bodies working together with local communities and the private sector to transform rural towns and villages and surrounding areas. The fund is intended to support ambitious projects that can support rural regeneration and development and are outside the scope of existing schemes.
Key outcomes should be supporting community and economic development in rural Ireland. The types of activity that can be supported by the fund are varied and include addressing infrastructural deficits to support town centre housing or commercial development; infrastructure that improves accessibility, supporting walking, cycling and public transport links but also improvements to roads, bridges and car parking facilities that encourage footfall; the development of areas, sites and buildings for community facilities; public amenity facilities; and projects to support job creation. Full details on all types of activity that could potentially be supported by the fund are in the information booklet published on the Department's website - www.drcd.ie.
Information sessions were also hosted by my Department throughout the country for those interested in making applications. I am pleased to say there was a great response to the first call for proposals, with 290 applications received. Of these, 125 were for category 1 shovel ready projects, while the other 165 were for category 2 projects, those which need development funding to become potential category 1 applications in the future. I am informed by my officials that six applications for funding have been received from County Tipperary.
Assessment criteria are published and the applications are being assessed by a project advisory board. The board includes representatives from key Departments and external experts. By the end of this month, I expect to receive recommendations from the project advisory board for the first group of category 1 projects for funding. Further announcements on successful category 1 and category 2 projects will follow. I also expect to announce a further call for proposals in 2019.
That sounds great. I salute all of the applicants, community activists and groups that submitted applications, but I do not think the Minister answered my question, which was whether the money could be used to help Tipperary town, which is stagnant largely owing to traffic problems. The only project of any significance to Tipperary town is the N24, Pallasgreen to Cahir road, project. According to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the plan for the project is under development. The proposed scheme covers a section that is approximately 38 km long. Twenty years ago in Cashel we built a short bypass to the standard to which the N8 would be built and it alleviated the traffic problems in the town. Why can we not do something like it for Tipperary town? There are two options for the route. We could build it to the standard of the N24, Pallasgreen to Cahir road, a short bypass of the town which runs for between 8 km and 10 km, to allow it to breathe. No matter what projects on which we embark, hundreds of lorries pass through Tipperary town daily which leads to traffic congestion, which is the most significant problem. The people of county Tipperary are ready, willing and able to bring forward many projects, but we have to sort out the chronic traffic problems first. I have asked the Minister if the fund can be used in such cases. He spoke about applications. They are all smaller. We want to see a seismic shift.
As I said in my initial response, it would not be appropriate for me to single out any town, particularly when an application process is in place, with a committee to assess schemes. All I will say is there is €1 billion available for the fund which represents a substantial investment. There is a figure of €400,000 plus that can be invested in any particular project. There are six applications from County Tipperary which I have not seen. They will not be brought before me until the assessment group has assessed the ones it thinks are ready to proceed. The two schemes are shovel ready and we hope to announce them by the end of the month. They are the ones that are ready to go. The other category involves getting schemes ready for inclusion in phase one where seed funding is needed or where funding is needed to make an application. I cannot and will not talk about any specific project, particularly when there is an application process in place.
I never asked whether the Minister supported the applications that had been made. I am talking about a shift in emphasis. We recently received a very good report on the level of deprivation in south and west Tipperary in comparison with that in the north east inner city of Dublin that had been prepared by Lisa English from Jobs for Tipp action group. While the matter does not specifically come within the Minister's remit, it has been argued that there is an option under the Planning and Development Act 2000 to create redevelopment areas to help to develop housing in and attract small-scale job creation projects to towns such as Tipperary. The Act introduced strategic development zones, SDZs, that have been implemented very successfully in places such as Adamstown, Clonburris, Cherrywood and the docklands in Dublin. There is nothing in the Act that prevents SDZs from being established to tackle deprivation in Tipperary town. We could link it with Carrick-on-Suir, if necessary, but Tipperary town needs help. A total of 5,000 people came out onto the streets three weeks ago on a Saturday for a "Jobs for Tipp" march. It is intended to hold another march later in November because of the inaction of the county council and the Government. Will the Minister work with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government in looking at establishing a SDZ in Tipperary town and Carrick-on-Suir to tackle deprivation? Will the Minister work with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Minister of State, Deputy English, in setting up a task force, in co-operation with Tipperary County Council, to develop a regeneration plan for south and west Tipperary, including Tipperary town?
It is my job, as Minister for Rural and Community Development, to try to promote development in every rural area. It is my job to support Tipperary town and every other town throughout the country and I am doing so with all of the schemes I have set up such as the town and village renewal scheme and the outdoor recreation scheme. I am also piloting a scheme whereby I have picked six towns that will give me ideas about what we can do that could be piloted in towns such as Tipperary in order that we can get people back living and working in towns and villages. I work with my colleagues in government. My job at Cabinet level involves making sure every item of legislation and every project is rural proofed. I understand towns such as Tipperary. There are many others that are going through difficult times. My job, as Minister, is to make sure we can spread development into the regions to towns such as Tipperary. That is why my Department allocated €6,382,000 for projects and schemes in County Tipperary to try to give rural towns a lift. They include the town and village renewal scheme, the outdoor recreation scheme and the CLÁR programme.
