*Cllr Shane Talty (FF). Photograph: Eamon Ward.
COUNTY COUNCILLORS were not provided with “the full facts” regarding the local authority’s submission for the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF).
Funding of up to €1m per project to support landmark regeneration projects capable of transforming Rural Ireland is available in the latest round of the RRDF.
March 14th is the closing date for submissions and Clare County Council have applied for two projects, the Crusheen railway line and the Killaloe/Ballina mobility strategy.
Projects not put forward by the Council as a result include, the Mars Cinema in Kilrush, the Corofin enhancement plan and the Lisdoonvarna regeneration plan.
At this month’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) questioned if a decision had been made on what projects to submit for funding prior to the publication of the monthly management report. He noted that the selected projects were both within the Killaloe Municipal District.
Interim Chief Executive of the Council, Carmel Kirby said there was “a long deliberation” prior to finalising the application. “All the projects were given consideration, the recommendations came into the management team, we looked at scoring all individual projects as to what is most likely to secure funding, two projects emerged as being more ready than others”.
She noted that the Killaloe/Ballina project was “a joint application” with Clare County Council and added “Crusheen might be looking like an East Clare project but it is a big catchment”.
Acting Director of Service for Rural Development, Ann Reynolds said five project proposals were undertaken by the Council prior to reaching a decision. She said an agreement had previously been reached by the Chief Executives of Clare and Tipperary County Councils to include Killaloe/Ballina in an RRDF application. “The main reason Crusheen came out on top was the countywide impact it would have had”. She continued, “Unfortunately we can only put forward two at this point. They are the two we felt would best meet criteria to be most successful”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo following the meeting, Cllr Talty revealed, “I was very frustrated to be told at 4pm on a Tuesday (February 4th) at a Corporate Policy Group meeting that no decision had been made on which projects would be put forward and that a selection assessment was ongoing to then see the Killaloe MD announce themselves (as a selected project) in a printed booklet issued on the Wednesday (February 5th).
“I am not knocking the merits of the two successful applications but I am disappointed that both are in the one Municipal District and I couldn’t be told the facts on the Tuesday evening,” the Lahinch man added. He said both Corofin and Lisdoonvarna had been hopeful they would be put forward for funding.
