‘Completely unacceptable’ that town in Tipperary is excluded from Active Travel funding
One town in Tipperary has been excluded from receiving any funding for Active Travel measures, a development that has been described as “unacceptable” by one local representative.
At the January meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, Sinn Féin councillor Annemarie Ryan raised the issue of the lack of Active Travel funding for Tipperary town, which hasn’t received any funding for Active Travel measures since 2021.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Ryan said this was “unacceptable”, and that she had been working with the district engineering team to put together applications for funding, which have been refused every time.
"I’ve been tracking the Active Travel packages for the last six years, and in that time, Tipperary town has not received one designated, named Active Travel project since before 2021,” Cllr Ryan said.
“We are at a significant disadvantage. That’s not to take from Cahir and Cashel, they have every right to get Active Travel funding, but we have got none.
“I’ve sat down with James [Swords, district engineer], and we’ve put together projects and we’ve put them to the Active Travel team, but I can say confidently that since before 2021, not one named project has come in for Tipperary town,” she explained.
"I think that’s completely unacceptable when you look at the spread of money throughout the whole council,” Cllr Ryan added.
When the issue was raised with the Active Travel team, Cllr Ryan said, they told her they were doing projects in villages throughout the district area, but none in Tipperary town itself.
"When I brought it up with Active Travel, they’ve said ‘we’re doing projects in Emly’, and that’s great, but for the town itself in comparison – I’ve compared Roscrea, Tipperary town, Cashel, Cahir and Carrick-on-Suir – and I can tell you exactly how much these other towns have received but the only time Tipperary town got funding was for the multi-footpath funding in 2021, but nothing since then for the town,” Cllr Ryan said.
“We are at a significant disadvantage here in the town when it comes to Active Travel measures in around the town,” she added.
Supporting Cllr Ryan, Fine Gael councillor John Crosse said that while the town hadn’t got funding under the Active Travel schemes, walkways in the town have seen a lot of investment in recent times.
"I want to support Cllr Ryan on her call for the Active Travel funding, I think it’s a worthy call, but just to say, that a lot of investment has gone into Tipperary town on walkways, and I’m referring to the River Ara walkway, and the Tipperary Hills, two areas that have had significant investment,” Cllr Crosse said.
In response, James Swords, the district engineer said that the district has no discretion when it comes to what projects receive Active Travel funding.
"We have no discretion here in the district to do with the Active Travel, so I can flag it to them again, but the minute I saw the list of Active Travel allocations, I knew it would be raised as an issue here,” he said.
The district engineering team will raise the issue with the Active Travel team again, Mr Swords said, with a view to getting Tipperary town included on the next funding allocation.