Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I refer to the commitment in the programme for Government to launch a new town and city infrastructure investment fund to replace the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF. Regional towns such as Clonmel cannot access the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, or the town and village renewal scheme, so this new fund is crucial. Clonmel has a shovel-ready project. Matched funding has been set aside. Can the Minister give any indication of when the Government might launch this fund? Crucially, will a specific allocation be set aside for regional towns so that the big cities will not dominate the allocations?

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