A local councillor has challenged comments made about Tipperary Town by a Galway Senator.
Councillor Michael Fitzgerald expressed his dissatisfaction over Senator Gerard Craughwell remarks in the Seanad about Tipp Town and his doubts surrounding the reason for his visit.
Senator Craughwell claims he was told via email by a man from the United States to make a trip to the town and to be prepared that what he would find would depress him.
Following his visit, he told the Seanad that amenities such as the county building’s water feature were “disgusting” and that he had concerns about the fact that the courthouse was “locked up”.
Speaking on Tipp Today, Cllr. Fitzgerald wondered why the senator didn’t give local representatives a chance to address his thoughts.
“Why didn’t he talk to our council people? Me, or anybody else? Why didn’t he call into Anthony Coleman? Why didn’t he visit the revitalisation people or look for them? I don’t believe for a minute, and I will tell him when I meet him, that he got an email from the United States asking him to go to Tipperary. The county building where the bureaucrats and the people who look after the town reside, where they reside, where their headquarters is, there is a water feature; if he was there, he would have seen that that is not the centre of the town.”
The Fine Gael councillor has come under fire for his reaction to Senator Gerard Craughwell’s comments about the town, branding the senator as “brain dead” and also offending the deaf community over comments about his hearing.
While the local councillor says he regrets some of the words he used, he says he will wait until they speak before considering an apology.
Cllr Fitzgerald says comments like this, and the rhetoric from certain online groups halts progress.
“I just see an element appearing that is not good. It’s not healthy, and it’s not beneficial to the town. I also see the brilliant work that’s going on by people who are constantly criticised. If that continues, we can forget about the N24 or industry. We can forget about all the things we are trying to achieve.”
