TD Mattie McGrath has criticised Minister Heather Humphreys for advising the people of Tipperary to ‘look over the border into County Limerick’ for examples of how to work together for the sake of the area.
In the Dail this week Deputy McGrath asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation about the measures that are being taken by the government to address unemployment and deprivation in Tipperary town.
After Deputy McGrath took issue with figures she quoted in response – some of which addressed the entire county and not the town specifically – Minister Humphreys went on to advise that many supports are available and told Deputy McGrath that ‘the town need(s) to work together and come forward with applications’.
Minister Humphreys went on to say that ‘those involved do not need to work in isolation but in collaboration’. She further recommended that people ‘look over the border into County Limerick where she said ‘wonderful success through collaboration between the university, the education sector State agencies, (and) the local authority’ can be seen.
In a statement afterward, Deputy McGrath decried the minister’s response, as saying ‘that essentially the problem was of our making because there was not the kind of collaborative spirit between the people, agencies and chamber of commerce in Tipperary, that there is in Limerick for example’.
He went on to accuse the minister of being ‘utterly patronising’ in her response, which he added, ‘completely sidesteps the fact that far from not being engaged, the people in these areas are being ignored by the government when they try to engage’.
