Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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81. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of the category 2 applications from Tipperary County Council under the rural regeneration and development fund. [45401/22]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I wish to inquire about rural regeneration and development funding for towns in Tipperary, namely, Carrick-on-Suir, Cathair Dúin Iascaigh - Cahir - and Roscrea. We have had funding from the urban regeneration and development fund for many of our towns but these are rural towns. Since they lost many services they need this funding from the regeneration schemes and I want an update on the matter.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Funding of €279 million has been approved to date under the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, for 191 projects nationwide costing over €379 million. Calls for applications to the fund are sought under two categories, namely, category 1 and category 2. Category 1 relates to large-scale ambitious capital projects with all necessary planning and other consents in place and which are ready to proceed. Category 2 provides smaller grant funding to enable the development of project proposals suitable for future calls for category 1 applications. The third call for category 2 applications was completed in January 2022. I announced funding of €21.5 million for 27 projects from this call. This included €1.2 million for the Rialto Digital and Enterprise Hub project located in Nenagh. The fourth call for category 1 applications to the RRDF closed on 29 April. My Department received 42 applications to this call, which together sought funding of over €149 million. I understand that three applications for projects located in Tipperary were submitted to this call.

The application process for the fund is competitive in nature. Applications are currently being assessed by my Department under the oversight of the project advisory board, which is comprised of representatives from key Departments and independent experts. Once the assessment process is complete, my Department will prepare a report setting out recommended projects. My role as Minister will be to consider that report and make final decisions in relation to the allocation of funding. I expect to be in a position to announce the successful projects in the coming weeks.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. I thank her also for visiting Tipperary. She visited Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Tipperary town and went on to some towns in the north of the county. Towns like Nenagh have got major funding and we do not begrudge them that but Carrick-on-Suir has been devastated by lack of industry for decades. Cahir has good employment. It is a beautiful town and indeed the new King visited there in spring of this year. It is a big tourist town and the county council has put huge work into car parking and redevelopment of the square, though everybody might not agree with it and I have my own concerns about the parking issues. Roscrea is also a town that has been hammered and has not got any major investment. These are the kind of towns that, as I have said before, must get some of this funding because they are falling off the ladder if they cannot get the funding. We cannot have it all for the main towns; it is a rural redevelopment fund. I look forward to a favourable outcome for the three applications from Tipperary of the 42 submitted nationally. We hope there will be good news for Tiobraid Árann and good news for Carrick-on-Suir, Cahir and Roscrea.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Tipperary as a county has done extremely well to date and has received the fourth-highest total county funding allocation from the fund since it began in 2018. Over €15.1 million in funding has been allocated to projects in Tipperary in that period. The Deputy was with me when I was down there and the work that is going on is wonderful. I was in Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and I was on the blueway. That is a wonderful connection and a real boost to that whole area. I was in Tipperary town and there has been good investment there. It was only this year I announced a further €500,000, I think it was, for Tipperary town for town centre work. That was in February under the town and village renewal scheme, so there is major development going on there as well.

I am aware there are three more applications in and as I said they are being assessed. I do not see them until they come to my desk, having gone through the process.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. She is welcome any time in Tiobraid Árann. I acknowledge we have been successful in funding in the major urban centres of Nenagh and Clonmel but this scheme is tailor-made to try to bring vitality back to rural towns. The Minister will not be disparaging the fact we got the fourth-highest funding allocation in the country. As she knows, "Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows" was the old adage.

The Minister would be welcome any time to come back, and please God she will come back and make the announcement of the funding for Carrick-on-Suir, Roscrea and, indeed, my own town of Cathair Dún Iascaigh. I thank the Minister for visiting the last time. I compliment the county council and the task force in Tipperary town and the groups in Nenagh. Without good, proper applications and a lot of detailed work, people will not get any funding. I compliment all involved in the towns that have been successful and those involved with the present applications that are gone in. Enormous work has gone into them and great enthusiasm which it is hoped will be rewarded.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. He is right that good applications have to come in. I cannot give them funding unless I get the applications. For those towns in Tipperary that have not got any funding, they should work with the local authority. The applications come in through the local authority, as the Deputy knows. If I do not get an application, there is no chance of getting funding. I see here that the activating Cahir's town centre regeneration strategy is seeking funding of €11.9 million. Carrick-on-Suir is another town looking for money. Reimagining and regenerating Gantly Road is seeking funding of €4.5 million, and then Cahir's town centre is a fairly big project, looking for funding of €11.9 million. It involves a number of interventions that will assist regeneration in the centre of the town and allow for significant future growth. It includes refurbishment of prominent buildings to create an enterprise hub, a new library and public realm. There are good, exciting applications coming in from Tipperary. They are in the assessment process. If the county's past record is anything to go by, it has been very successful in its applications. We will work on that.