On a mission to make the county of Tipperary a better place to live and work

Making Tipperary a better place to work and live is at the heart of the desire driving Tipperary County Council CEO, Sinead Carr, to deliver for the county.

Appointed to the top job last summer, Sinead is fiercely committed to ensuring Tipperary maximises its potential and she believes everybody has a part to play in realising that objective.

She arrived at the job with the bulk of the Tipperary County Development Plan 2022-2028 still to run and she is determined to reach the goals set out in that document over the next few years.
She wants to achieve even growth in both the south and the north of the county and wants to see the authority be the catalyst for economic growth and a better quality of life for people in every town, village, and rural area within the huge county.

Addressing that task in a characteristically practical and fair manner, Sinead believes the strength of community spirit, the sense of identity of Tipperary people, and the value they place in the county was something that could be utilised to make Tipperary a better place to work and live.
“The local authority should be leveraging the value from that and enabling people to create better places to live and generate better quality of life for people,” said the CEO.

TOWN CENTRE FIRST
Two developments that she has put her imprint on relate to that objective, one an internal restructuring of staff to implement a Town Centre First team and the other initiative involves a collective approach to tackling anti-social behaviour, and drug use that are affecting the quality of life in the county.
Sinead is a firm believer in having plans in place for major developments that will bring great benefit to the county.
“If the plans are not prepared and in place when funding comes for such projects you lose it. The plans were in place for the new sports hub development in Clonmel and when funding was announced for those types of projects around the country we were first out the door to get the funding because the plans were already in place,” said Sinead.
To that end, the county manager has implemented a major restructuring of staff that brings together key personnel involved in preparing plans for major projects in the county.

PUBLIC REALM
It pulls together people whose remit is the delivery of major public realm projects, urban upgrades, tourism initiatives, active travel projects and tackling dereliction and vacancy.
That team has been in place since January ensuring continuity in the process of bringing projects to fruition.
“We moved staff from different places in a restructuring to bring about a more focussed team. We need to be in a position not to lose four or five months preparing a project if a key staff member is promoted or takes up a post elsewhere. We cannot afford to wait for the vacant post to be filled in Tipperary. Putting this team together reduces the risk of something sitting and waiting for months while a position is being filled again,” said Sinead.
She said plans for the Suir Island development in Clonmel have been drawn up and the matter was before An Bord Pleanála at the moment.

Similar public realm projects are the development of The Square in Cahir, Liberty Square in Thurles, a sustainable centre of excellence in Nenagh and there are plans for public realm projects in Roscrea and Templemore, and they were all at different stages.
She said the county was unique in that it had nine towns of a sizeable population and since 2019 €137 million has been drawn down under RRDF and URDF schemes with the local authority contributing €30 million.

QUALITY OF LIFE
Quality of life for the people of the county and their ability to fully avail of such new amenities when they come on stream in a safe environment is also a priority for the council’s new CEO.
She has taken up an invitation from Healthy Ireland, a HSE-backed initiative, that has brought together a team of interested parties in a pilot scheme to look at such issues in the Clonmel area.
The project in Clonmel brings together a team to examine safety on the streets and societal issues that affect the quality of life for people living in the county.
“We need the whole of society to take responsibility, not just the Gardaí or the council. Everybody has to get involved. Use of illegal substances on the streets and in communities throughout the county is a huge concern. We have to make it less attractive for young people to use drugs and drink,” she said.

HEALTHY IRELAND
The Clonmel group involved in the Healthy Ireland project consists of about 20 representatives from the Tipperary County Council, HSE, Gardaí, Regional Drugs Task Force Tusla, Barnardos, the Vintners, business leaders, the hospitality sector, and schools.

She said the authority was also looking forward to playing its part in the Local Community Safety Partnership, a body that replaces the Joint Policing Committees, and is expected to have its first meeting in the first quarter of the year.
Sinead Carr wanted to see a fair distribution of funding to the towns in the county to allow them fulfill their potential.
Towns, she said, were undergoing change like they have always done. The current times were no different as there was a revolution taking place in the retail sector and towns were moving away from the more traditional market role they had in the past.

SOCIAL CONNECTION
“You need never leave your house now to purchase clothes or furniture so there has to be another reason to bring people into towns. You will still have your shops in town, but we need to create the space for people to come into the towns through public realm projects like the Kickham Plaza in Clonmel and The Square in Cahir. The towns have to be utilised for events and festivals and we have to give people a reason to come into town for activities and social connection. We will be left behind if we don’t do that,” she insisted.
On taking up the post of CEO Sinead handed over responsibility for housing to Jonathan Cooney who was appointed Director of Housing, and she wants to ensure housing remains a priority.
She said significant progress has been made on the provision of social housing in Tipperary in recent years and the major issue affecting the housing situation was the lack of building in the private sector. One of the reasons contributing to that is the unfair position Tipperary finds itself in and it is a situation that she wants to change.
POWERFUL CASE
She intends to make a powerful case to the newly elected Government for the removal of a barrier that is in place that makes it more attractive for builders in the private sector to build houses in the eight counties bordering Tipperary than to build them in Tipperary.
“I know there are a lot of people out there waiting for social housing but at the same time, huge progress has been made in recent years. I am satisfied we are on top of social housing, we have a good number of the backlog cleared and there is a good pipeline there. The area that needs work on is the private sector and affordable housing and that is an area that the county is struggling with,” she explained.
A total of 1,700 social housing units have been delivered in the county since 2020 and this included a period during Covid when there were significant restrictions to deal with, as well as the 140 voids being turned around each year.
“What is extraordinary is that you do not have the same level of private development in Tipperary,” she said.

PRIVATE HOUSING
She explained one of the reasons for that is the lack of a level playing field with neighbouring counties who operate under a more favourable cost threshold than Tipperary County Council under the First Home Scheme for first-time buyers where the Government will take an equity in your property.
“There is a cap on the scheme and we have one of the lowest caps in the country. The eight neighbouring counties have a higher cap than we have so developers are going to go there first and Tipperary is losing out. We need to tackle that issue. Surrounding counties are doing a better delivery of private housing because of that cap. The Government has to see that Tipperary is at a disadvantage. I can understand the cap being different for the cities but other than that the cap should reflect the fact that it’s the same price to build here as it would be elsewhere,” she said.

CHALLENGE
Despite the endless list of priorities that require action, Sinead Carr said she was enjoying taking on the challenge involved.
“I am privileged to get the job, it is a huge challenge, we have a great team and a great county,” she said.