Government accused of ‘failing rural Ireland’ as TD raises Tipperary regeneration concerns
Seamus Healy, a TD with the Workers and Unemployed Action Group (WUAG), made the claims during a Dáil debate about Ireland’s rural future, and said that towns like Clonmel “require significant refurbishment.”"Vacancy and dereliction in the main streets of our towns are very serious issues. I hope towns will be supported by means of the regeneration programmes for towns with populations under and over 10,000 people,” Deputy Healy said.Clonmel had been “hit by changes in retail trends,” he said, adding that long-standing family businesses had closed."Tipperary County Council is submitting a significant town centre upgrading project this week, under the towns and cities regeneration investment fund. Approval of this project is of vital importance for the consolidation and development of the town."It is a shovel-ready project, with Part 8 consultation complete. The town has an excellent record of completing schemes such as this on time and under budget,” he added.In response, Rural and Community Development Minister Dara Calleary said that rural businesses had faced many challenges since the move to online."We face a major challenge. As we go online and become more online, we have to try to protect businesses and base businesses in rural areas,” the Minister said."I am certainly open to ideas and proposals on how we can do that. If we can do that, while there is a generation who may never walk into a shop, we have to give them a reason to use and go to a town and a village, be it for schools, community events, or sport,” he added.Deputy Healy also raised concerns about policing levels in rural areas, saying Tipperary has “inadequate” numbers of gardaí."Gardaí on the beat are almost non-existent now. I must say that seeing on RTÉ news recently a successful Garda beat in Dublin city centre was very difficult to take, seeing as we have been looking for this type of operation for quite some time,” he said.Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
