Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I am deeply proud of my home town of Clonmel. It has a great history, a great location, strong levels of employment and extraordinary community spirit. However, our town centre - the historic core of Clonmel - continues to suffer from high vacancy rates and, more worryingly, increased dereliction. We have a shovel-ready plan to transform the prime retail area and reimagine the public realm. We have set aside the matching funding that is required. It is crucial that, as a town, we can access the URDF or the newly proposed town and cities infrastructure and investment fund as promised in the programme for Government at the earliest opportunity. Can the Taoiseach give any indication of when the Government proposes to launch these funds?

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