Ms Annmarie McHugh:

Then we were looking at the opportunities. To follow up on what Ms Delaney was saying, we are fortunate to be one of the six pilot towns and we also feel we need somebody on the ground who is a regeneration expert because, as a committee, we do not have the time or, more importantly, the knowledge to be able to find out about all the different supports available. I would also follow on from what Ms Delaney said about the graph of all the different initiatives that are available. How do we put all that together? If there was a regeneration expert based in the town who people could go and talk to and get to know who could see all the issues, that would be a good way of spending significant money, and while it would not have to be significant money, it would make a good impact.

We also feel more accessible funding could be made available. Again, we know there are many derelict buildings in all of our towns, unfortunately. We know the Government cannot fix them all, but in most towns there are probably one or two that would make a significant impact if they were repurposed. One of ours is Market House. In the picture I showed of it, it had a roof, but on 8 February that roof collapsed. That caused a lot of annoyance in the town because it cost a lot of money to make that building safe. We need some sort of funding and help to get that building back into use in the town. It is not like it is outside the town where people do not notice it. People drive past it every single day. Hope Castle is the other one. On the name, the Hope Diamond comes from Castleblayney and Castleblayney came from Hope Castle. That is another derelict building that has been sitting there idle for six or seven years. It could provide accommodation as it used to be a hotel. That would revive the town in a significant way.

Again, I concur with what Mr. Lord and Ms Delaney said in that we feel the Government should make the town centre the agenda. Everyone should think about how we can make the town centre more vibrant. For example, if the HSE is planning a new building, it should go in the town centre and not outside the town. Initiatives such as VAT refunds for any buildings that are happening in the town would be helpful. We have done a good bit of work with Age Friendly Ireland. We had a meeting with it yesterday and we have met senior people from the organisation. Everyone knows the population is living longer, but the good news is we are living more healthily. There are initiatives and best practice models throughout the country, but we would like to see that as an opportunity in Castleblayney to try to encourage all the people who want to sell their houses out the country to move into town once they have the services available to them.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, has many different streams of funding but it is not always the easiest to access. Again, this regeneration expert would encapsulate a lot of that information, particularly when it comes to a period house.

I concur with what Mr. McCarthy said about the importance of high-quality and highly paid jobs to the location. Please God we are all fortunate to have children who get to go to college, but we want them to come back and they want to come back. If there were high-quality jobs in rural areas, that would allow them to come back.

I refer to the threats. If we do nothing, the towns will go into disrepair. People will not want to live in a town that does not look right, does not feel right and does not have a good vibe about it. If the older generation is to live there, that would be fantastic, but we need younger people to come back to grow the community, to get the GAA clubs going, to get the schools going and all that kind of stuff. We need people to come back into the towns. In our town, there are two sites that were used for accommodation and are now derelict. We could be doing everything in the area of tourism, but if we do not have places for people to stay, they will not come back to the town.

There is a strong possibility that the town realm and economic plan that exists could remain on the shelf because of funding restrictions or if funding for projects does not get to us or to other towns.

Last but not least, I refer to the burnout of volunteers. There is a group of us working at this, and while we have not been doing it for as long as Mr. McCarthy, we have been doing it for about five years. We enjoy what we do and everybody is passionate about the town, as we all are about our towns, but we need a bit of help. If there is anything the committee can do to help us, we would greatly appreciate it.

I thank members for their time and for listening today. I am happy to take any questions they have.