Mattie McGrath Urges Task Force to Revitalise Clonmel Marketplace
Mattie McGrath called for a task force to tackle dereliction in Clonmel Town and demanded a revitalisation plan for the vacant marketplace. He pressed for action to support local businesses and proposed working with the district council and Clonmel Chamber of Commerce.
Marketplace vacancy and local dereliction
He described the marketplace as a "spanking new development" that is now vacant and derelict, creating an appalling vista. He also referenced deterioration on Gladstone Street and O'Connor Street and said the marketplace itself needs a revitalisation plan.
Support for local business owners
He saluted the hard-working business people who keep their shop doors open every day despite low rates and little government support. He argued that preserving a living town requires targeted help for those businesses and attention to corner schemes that might be converted for housing.
Proposed task force and partners
He called for a task force involving the district council and Clonmel Chamber of Commerce to develop a clear plan for the area. He urged that local organisations be identified to come back to government with proposals rather than creating unnecessary new bodies.
Role of local authority and recent activity
He acknowledged that significant refurbishment and development work has been taking place in Clonmel Town and noted a recent ministerial visit in relation to housing initiatives and new investments. He emphasised that the local authority is the key player for delivering revitalisation.
Parliamentary exchange
He thanked Deputy Vince Morris for his wording and closed by reiterating the need for a clear, locally led plan to revitalise the marketplace and surrounding streets.
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I ask you, to set up a task force to do something with the dereliction in Clonmel Town, the closure of many, many businesses, but especially marketplace, a spanking new development that was the vision of either Hannah Doerr and Fergal Quinn at Westham, and a fabulous place, and it is now vacant and derelict, and it is an appalling vista, and many, many other areas in the Gladstone Street, O'Connor Street, so we need a task force to our district council, and indeed Clonmel Chamber, of Commerce, and I salute the hard-working business people that are there, keeping their shop doors open every day, with very little paying rates, getting very little support from government or anybody else, implying people, keep the doors open, keep the town a living town, so some of the great corner schemes on those might help with housing, and they should do, convert some of those buildings, but marketplace itself needs a revitalisation plan, and it needs a task force to deal with it, in Clonmel Town, Bail of Honey. Well, first of all, I think you'd have to acknowledge there's been a lot of good work happening at Clonmel Town, there's huge refurbishment, and development of a very significant kind, and Minister Dar O'Brien was down there recently, in respect of both housing initiatives, and in terms of new investments as well, and I think we have to work with the local authority, local authority is the key player here, and, you know, sometimes we can set up new bodies, and agencies, and task forces, and all of that, when actually, the simpler thing to do is to identify government, and other local organisations, and other local organisations come back to government, with a clear plan, as to how we revitalise an area that you've just identified. Thank you Deputy Vince Morris I think that's probably the better way to put it.
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