Minister of State hears why Clonmel needs around €50m funding for urban renewal during visit to town 

Tipperary’s local government and political leaders made a strong pitch for Clonmel to secure more Urban Renewal funding for €75m worth of projects to transform Clonmel town centre when Minister of State Peter Burke visited the town last Thursday. 

The Junior Minister for Planning & Local Government’s whistle stop visit came hot on the heels of Further & Higher Education Minister Simon Harris’ visit on August 23 where he too was lobbied for funding to contribute to the town’s ambitious regeneration scheme. 

Minister Burke indicated that €300m of URDF funding still remains to be allocated under the current round of the funding scheme.  

Like his senior Fine Gael colleague, Minister Burke was given a tour of the 11-acres former Kickham Army Barracks, one of the key town centre sites earmarked for a multi-million euro metamorphosis into a further education and university campus along with a civic plaza and new Clonmel Garda Station. 

Expectations were high earlier this year that Clonmel would secure substantial funding in the latest round of the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) to enable it roll-out its series of ambitious projects, namely the second phase of Kickham Barracks redevelopment, the Flights of Discovery tourism project featuring a Bulmers Visitor Centre and interpretive centre at the West Gate, an amenity park at Suir Island and a public realm revamp of town centre streets.  

An estimated €50m in URDF investment is being sought for these projects.   

But there was disappointment in March when Clonmel was omitted from the list of towns allocated URDF funding. 

Minister Burke was met at Kickham Barracks by a high powered delegation, who pressed for his Department to now sanction Clonmel’s URDF application,  

The delegation included Tipperary County Council CEO Joe MacGrath, Fine Gael Senator Garret Ahearn, Tipperary County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Marie Murphy, Mayor of Clonmel Borough District Cllr Michael Murphy, Clonmel councillors Siobhán Ambrose and John Fitzgerald, Clonmel Borough District  Administrator Jim Dillon and Tipperary County Council Senior Executive Officer Ger Walsh. 

The  Minister of State from Mullingar was shown around the former army barracks complex where construction workers are busy  on the first phase of its redevelopment – the creation of the civic plaza and internal link roads. 

A total of €10.5m URDF funding was allocated in January for this civic plaza project and for the development of a regional sports hub at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) campus on the Clonmel Bypass.  

Work on both these projects is  due to finish in 12 months’ time. 

Mr MacGrath told Minister Burke how after its recent unsuccessful application, the council received feedback from his Department that it felt the education side of Government should have “more skin in the game” in terms of contributing funding towards Kickham Barracks’ redevelopment into a further education and university campus. 

This was why they met with Minister Harris, whom he believed was very impressed with their plans. 

He confirmed he planned to meet with LIT officials this week in relation to moving forward an application for funding arising from their  meeting with Minister Harris. 

However, he stressed that even with funding from the Department of Further and Higher Education, they would still need substantial URDF finance to realise the town’s regeneration projects. 

Mr MacGrath argued that Clonmel was now a university town but it won’t look like one until all the regeneration  projects to enhance the town centre are implemented. The regeneration scheme was a well-thought-out and structured plan to which Tipperary County Council will be contributing funding towards, he pointed out.  

If there was any money left in the URDF pot at the present time, he appealed for it to be allocated to Clonmel. 

And pointing to the construction work going on around them at Kickham Barracks, Mr MacGrath added: “It’s so important to keep the momentum going on the site. That is why we are keen to go back in with an application.” 

Fine Gael Senator Garret Ahearn echoed his sentiments, arguing that “it made no sense to start and not follow through”. 

He believed one of the biggest successes of the regeneration scheme will be the university and further education campus. 

“It will do an awful lot to enhance the town. We are a university town and now we need to present ourselves in that way. We do need support from other departments but we do really need support from your department as well,” he urged. 

He later hammered home his point by telling Minister Burke: “As important as it’s to get funding from other sectors, the number one is to get funding from the URDF.” 

Tipperary County Council Cathaoirleach Marie Murphy told Minister Burke the economic, social and cultural benefits of the regeneration projects for the Clonmel area couldn’t be overestimated. 

Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Michael Murphy pointed to how town centres around the country, including Clonmel, were very challenged at the moment and these projects tied in with the Government’s town centre first policy. 

He thanked Minister Burke for visiting Clonmel and asked him to do what he could to deliver their vision for the town. 

Former Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Siobhán Ambrose, meanwhile,  reminded Minister Burke how the former Kickham Army Barracks contributed greatly to the economic buoyancy of Clonmel and it was a very sad day when it closed. But with a new “anchor tenant” there it would significantly benefit the town centre’s economy again in terms of “the footfall” it would bring. 

After hearing Mr MacGrath’s presentation and supporting comments from local politicians, Minister Burke assured the delegation that his Department wouldn’t fund the first phase of the redevelopment of Kickham Barracks and then walk away from it. It was their intention to follow through on what had begun, he pledged.   Explaining why Clonmel didn’t secure URDF funds in March, Minister Burke said the recent round of URDF was over subscribed.  While the initial signs for Clonmel had been good, the application took a bit of a turn when it went through a competition process. He explained it was felt that there were other state agencies who hadn’t “enough skin in the game” and that funding should also be sought from the likes of the Department of Further Education. He welcomed the fact that an application was now to be submitted to Minister Harris’ Department  

He told The Nationalist he was very impressed with what he had heard about the plans for Clonmel and said  it  was a “priority project” for URDF funding.  There was  about €300m  URDF funding in  this current round left in the pot but he didn’t have  a timeframe for when  it will be allocated.