Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. I was delighted to hear about the meeting that took place yesterday. It is important to get the officials in all the local authorities together because a problem exists in this area. The Minister of State referred to the repair and lease scheme but, in general terms, it is not working because of a funding issue. Carlow and Waterford were two of the counties to which it was rolled out. There is an imbalance when it comes to rural Ireland in that the owners of small commercial shops are barely taking home a living and they are finding it very hard to come up with the necessary funding. The issue of funding is the main reason that scheme has not taken off. Unless a funding stream can be put in place that would provide an incentive for the refurbishment of commercial units in town centres, this proposal will not work. The three-year timeframe for it - up until 31 December 2021 - is very short. I believe that will be a big problem, and that needs to be examined.

The Minister of State met all the chief executive officers - or county managers as I and many people would refer to them - of the local authorities yesterday. How many people do they believe will take up this proposal, how many will invest in it, and how will it work? As we are aware, there is a massive issue in our small urban areas. We need to get life back into our town centres, particularly in rural Ireland where the owners of small commercial units are finding it very hard to exist. We can put in place as many regulations as we want but unless there is an uptake of this proposal, it will not work. The Minister needs to sit down with the owners of the commercial units. The council officials need to meet them. How many does the Minister think might take up the proposal? I note he said that only some of the councils have come back to him with those figures.

This can be compared to imposing compulsory purchase orders. Efforts have been made to apply compulsory purchase orders to buildings in town centres for many years. There are no regulations in place in that respect. There are a great number of issues involved in town centres that are not been addressed. If this exemption will apply for only three years, it is crucial that the Minister of State ensures that it will work because unless it will work we might as well not provide it. I would have massive concerns about it. The regulations propose an exemption for a change of use, which I welcome. I am in favour of renewal and factors such as buyer safety and building regulations are crucial. However, there is the matter of the way this proposal will work and the way the incentives will work for the people concerned. Funding is the biggest issue facing everyone who has a commercial property. That is the reason many of them are derelict. Two years is a very small timescale. I could advise the Minister of State of buildings that have been derelict for ten or 15 years. We need to make sure that there is something in place that can with worked with.

If this proposal goes ahead and I hope it does, working through the local authorities, what will be the exact timescale for it? Can the Minister of State give us three or four pointers with respect to working with the local authorities and the commercial owners to turn their properties into viable housing units? What role will each of those parties play? What exactly is the Minister of State going to do for them?