Funding for Tipperary Local Authority
The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly TD, and Minister of State, Paudie Coffey TD , Minister with Special Responsibility for Housing, Planning and Coordination of the Construction 2020 Strategy, today announced funding of €2.5m for Limerick, Clare and Tipperary local authorities to implement the recommendations of the Limerick Hinterland report. The Limerick Hinterland Report is a study, commissioned by Limerick City and County Council to examine the impact of Limerick Regeneration on its hinterland. The €2.5 million in funding will be matched by €2.5 million from the local authorities own resources.
The Limerick Hinterland Report examines the profile of a range of settlements within the Hinterland of Limerick City and explores the relationship between these settlements and the city on the basis of key socio-economic indicators. The analysis shows that the functional economic area of Limerick City extends into Limerick County, Clare and Tipperary and identifies the need to ensure that appropriate infrastructure and public amenities are in place to support those areas which have had large population increases (for example Murroe, Fedamore, Pallasgreen, Castleconnell and Newport) in recent years.
To support the implementation of the Hinterland Study, a contribution of €2.5 million will be made available by the Department, to be match funded by Limerick, Clare and Tipperary local authorities. The funding from the Department will be subject to limits to ensure that no single local authority can draw down all of the funding, and ensure a balanced distribution of resources. The limits will be €1.5m for Limerick City and County Council, €0.5m for Clare County Council and €0.5m for Tipperary County Council.
Announcing the funding, Minister Kelly remarked, “The profile of Rural Ireland and the hinterland of Limerick City in particular, has changed dramatically over the last 15 years and we need to be mindful of those areas affected by developments within our cities. The Limerick Hinterland report went into detail about the lack of sufficient services and amenities available in towns in the Limerick Hinterland, and recommended that funding should be provided to develop these services in light of the major growth in population that has occurred in recent years. This funding will help the local authorities take measures to address the problems raised in the report, and will benefit towns such as Rathkeale, Patrickswell and Newport”.
The three local authorities in question will have responsibility for specific arrangements regarding the administration of the funding.
