Just two out of the 27 projects funded under the Rural Regeneration Development Fund were in areas that didn’t have a Government representative.
An analysis of the funding found that the majority of funding was allocated to areas with a Minister, Junior Minister or TD.
Councillor Annemarie Ryan told Tipp FM that the socio economic needs of the town were also not taken into account, when they were denied funding for the regeneration of a derelict building into a community and training centre.
Nearly one in five people in Tipp Town have no formal education, while the town has extremely high vacancy rates.
“When we went through the RRDF funding, we did a further analysis of the breakdown of the allocation and it shows that 84% of the funds went to constituencies where either there was a Minister, Junior Minister or Government TD, so you’ve got only 16% of the funding going to an area that doesn’t have political representation within the Government.
“So, out of all the projects that were funded, I think two were funded that didn’t have Government TD or Minister representation, so I think you do have to ask that question.”
Councillor Ryan added that socio economic disadvantage doesn’t seem to be taken into account for this funding, so she believes the areas that are in most need are not being considered.
