The Rural Independent Group wants to see the Brexit talks concluded. We look forward to the Taoiseach's briefing on the text this evening.

Several weeks ago, I raised the issue of economic and social deprivation in County Tipperary, particularly areas of Tipperary town and west Tipperary, with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputies Regina Doherty, and the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys. The former indicated that far from being areas of deep concern, County Tipperary and Tipperary town are flourishing and thriving. Nothing could be further from the truth. It appears that the sky-high rate of youth unemployment and the Pobal index figures on deprivation are figments of people's imagination. This assessment has created a deep sense of anger across the county. People have taken to the streets in their thousands to highlight the reality of the situation and to try to bring home to the Government what is actually taking place on the ground, or more accurately what is not taking place. There is a total lack of understanding and empathy.

I would like to refer to a comparative study that was commissioned and written by Ms Lisa English, who is involved in the Jobs for Tipp action group. The findings of this study, which compares deprivation levels in south Tipperary with those in the north-east inner city of Dublin, are truly disturbing. The report finds that the districts of Tipperary east, Tipperary town, Tipperary west, Clonmel west and Carrick-on-Suir all score more highly on the Pobal deprivation index than areas in Dublin's inner city. It concludes that deprivation levels in the towns of Tipperary, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir are far in excess of those in inner-city Dublin. Unlike Dublin's inner city, there are no special tax incentives or developer-led initiatives to help to regenerate towns in County Tipperary.

The Jobs for Tipp action group has made applications over a number of years to the town and village renewal scheme but they were all refused, despite the fact it has a property from Tipperary Co-Op on a long-term lease. Added to the challenges is the fact that overall the south-east region is the second most disadvantaged in Ireland. Despite its importance to the region, the N24 also suffers from slow journey times and substandard design and alignment, and it is congested where it is routed through a number of towns, particularly Tipperary town, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir, as well as villages. It is choking Tipperary town.

There is one option I want the Taoiseach to consider and it would demonstrate a real commitment on the part of the Government to the county. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, consideration can be given to the creation of a strategic development zone, SDZ, in the south and west of County Tipperary to help tackle deprivation and to attract small-scale job creation in towns such as Tipperary town and Carrick-on-Suir. Such zones have been used successfully in places such as Cherrywood and the docklands in Dublin. A Tipperary development company or task force could be established in co-operation with Tipperary County Council and central government funding. Will the Taoiseach support this option or, at the very least, ask the relevant Ministers to create an interdepartmental group to bring some joined-up thinking to this crisis? The message is just not getting through. There seem to be no genuine sense of the special circumstances that are preventing areas of Tipperary from tapping into the growth that is slowly starting to materialise in other parts of rural Ireland.

As the House will acknowledge, it is very much Government policy to ensure our nation's prosperity is shared, that everyone benefits and that all parts of the country benefit. Project Ireland 2040 is very much about making sure we have economic development in all parts of the country, that the large cities outside Dublin grow twice as fast as Dublin, that we develop new major urban centres, such as the Dundalk to Drogheda corridor, Athlone and Sligo, and that we make sure we have a growth in population in rural Ireland. We want more than 200,000 people living in rural Ireland by 2040. Before the end of the year we will be able to make the first allocations under the urban renewal fund and the rural renewal fund. Deputy McGrath knows that €2 billion was set aside for the urban fund and €1 billion for the rural fund. I am sure very good projects have come in from Tipperary for those funds but I am not in a position to allocate the funding today.

I appreciate that many towns in Tipperary are not doing well. I saw the media coverage of the protest that occurred in Tipperary town. I have been there in the past. At the same time, we should not make the mistake of failing to acknowledge that Tipperary is a good county. It is a good place to live and has a lot of successful industries. It is an area we should speak about in such a way that attracts people to move there and attracts investment towards it.

The Deputy will have seen unemployment fall significantly. In north Tipperary, it peaked at more than 8,000 in 2012 and it is now down to 4,400. In south Tipperary, unemployment almost reached 10,000 and is now down to 4,700. A lot of work is being done by the enterprise agencies. There are now almost 6, 000 jobs in companies supported by Enterprise Ireland in Tipperary. There are 3,600 people working for 11 IDA Ireland client companies. In recent months, job announcements were made by DMS Governance in Cashel and significant investment in the Lisheen Mines bio-economy project.

The Deputy also mentioned roads. The allocation for regional and local roads in Tipperary increased to €21.7 million this year from €18.4 million last year. That is a big increase in roads funding for the county. This is separate from any funding provided through the local improvement scheme.

On the issue of an SDZ for the area, we are always open to consideration of this but such a zone is not necessarily the magic bullet people think it is. I have an SDZ in my constituency and we often colloquially refer to it as the slow development zone. There are other SDZs, for example in Knock, that may have benefits in the future but just designating something an SDZ does not mean development follows. It requires a little more thought than that.

I am well used to the Taoiseach's acronyms and how he can describe them. I will tell him one thing about Tipperary - we are not slow, whatever about an SDZ. In Tipperary town, 5,000 people came onto the streets in good humour. I acknowledge the work that goes on there. The voluntary sector is huge. There is Tipperary Co-op, Brodeen Engineering Knockanrawley, the Canon Hayes centre and Moorehaven with 520 people. We want Government support. We do not have a fair slice of the cake. The rural regeneration and development fund has a budget of €1 billion, as the Taoiseach keeps telling us. Six applications have been made from County Tipperary. We are not holding our breath because we have held it before. The Minister, Deputy Ring, has said a total of only €55 million has been put away for this year so it is not happening. Will the Taoiseach encourage his Ministers to establish a strategic investment interdepartmental group? The people of Tipperary are ready, willing and able to collaborate and co-operate and we will show the way. We will lead the way if necessary but we need support from the Government. The Government has neglected west Tipperary and Tipperary town as well as Carrick-on-Suir. They have been abandoned by successive Governments but this Government and the previous Government have definitely abandoned them. The Taoiseach saw it himself when he came to visit. He saw we had no bypass. Now he has gone off with the road from Limerick to Cork and abandoned the idea of the N24 from Limerick to Waterford that would go through Cahir. It was €400 million cheaper. I ask the Taoiseach to consider establishing this group. We will make sure it will not be a slow development issue in Tipperary because we will engage with it and make sure it works.

The Deputy mentioned the existence of the rural regeneration and development fund. It has €1 billion that we have set aside for the next ten years to invest in our towns and villages in rural areas to make them more attractive for people to stay in, move to and establish businesses in. There is also a €2 billion urban regeneration fund for settlements of more than 10,000 people. Applications have been made from Tipperary but they have yet to be assessed. We expect to be in a position to make the first allocations before the end of the year.