Minister confirms no budget has been finalised for Tipp Town Forum – Mattie McGrath
Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said there is mounting frustration in Tipperary Town following confirmation that the Tipperary Town Forum has yet to receive any funding or budgetary approval from the Department of Housing; Planning and Local Government. Deputy McGrath was speaking after he asked Minister Eoghan Murphy if funding had been approved and allocated to the Tipperary task force under the leadership of Ms Alison Harvey:
“Concerns have been growing on the ground for some time now that the task force was little more than a pre-election gimmick designed to offset frustration about the lack of development in the town.
This reply from the Minister does nothing to ease those concerns.
I have been raising this matter with the Minister and the government since at least last November when I suggested the need to create a strategic development zone in south and west County Tipperary to help tackle deprivation and to attract small-scale job creation in towns such as Tipperary town and indeed Carrick-on-Suir
Now the Minister has confirmed that while he met with local stakeholders in January; a submission seeking funding to support the Forum is still only “under consideration” in his Department.
What is also deeply concerning is the fact that representatives from March4Tipp have also confirmed that their calls and emails to the Forum and Ms Harvey have gone unanswered and ignored.
I am calling on the Minister to come clean on this matter once and for all. Is there a real intention to progress the development of the Town and surrounding areas or is it just one more example of spin at the expense of the people,” concluded Deputy McGrath.
