North Tipperary communities should get Just Transition funds as well, say Councillors

A NUMBER of councillors are making the point that the communities of North Tipperary are just as entitled to receive funds from the Just Transition process as the communities of Offaly.
Cllr Ger Darcy told a recent meeting of Nenagh Municipal District that hundreds of people from North Tipperary were employed in the peat harvesting industry for many years.
“There were a lot of local people from North Tipperary employed in the peat harvesting industry. They lost their jobs which had a significant economic impact on the region. Therefore we are just as deserving of compensatory funding.” The councillor said Redwood and Sharragh Bogs near Lorrha were harvested for many years on a significant level.
“The Just Transition Fund is a massive fund, €169 million,” said Cllr Michael O'Meara, “designed to compensate communities for loss of jobs and income due to the government's decarbonisation programme. The Lorrha/Rathcabbin area would be very deserving of it. Over the decades many people, mostly men, from the Lorrha/Rathcabbin area were employed in Derrinlough Briquette Factory, Shannonbridge Power Station and on the bogs. I feel very hard done by because we have been more or less excluded from the Just Transition Fund. When Shannonbridge and Derrinlough closed it had a big negative impact on our communities. We are getting the short straw once again.”
Cllr O'Meara said he discussed the matter with the Chief Executive of Tipperary County Council Joe MacGrath. “Joe is very familiar with the Just Transition process and he understands our position. He told me that if a viable project came in from our area it would definitely be given full consideration. One possible project could perhaps be some sort of environmental project in connection with the fact that there's a lot of Callows land in the Rathcabbin area.”
A member of the executive told the meeting that Tipperary County Council “is in the process of recruiting a Tourism Animator to work on the JTF.
In the meantime, the Tourism Marketing and Development Officer has been promoting the availability of the fund to tourism organisations, and advising and assisting anyone interested, on how to go about expressing interest. The Tourism Animator will commence employment in early 2024.”