Ms Miriam Delaney:

Hearing the direct experience of the other three parties is useful in illustrating some of the points we made about having a strategy. Some of the work and struggles in terms of the bigger issues resonate with us. One aspect we noted, and it relates to the Senator's comment about gaps in communications between community groups and local authorities, is the private commissioning of reports, feasibility studies and pilot studies, on which in many cases town volunteer groups are taking direct action. They are spending quite a significant amount of money and raising funds to do this. We see that as a problem because the reports commissioned by private consultants are not consistent. Their data and the methods they use to gather the data are not consistent. We get patchy analysis from town after town and they are not collated in any meaningful way across a country, region or the country. What we get are people doing the same work in many places without having the opportunity to learn from other places. A shared resource would be useful where one could access high level advice, best practice and particularly best international practice. We are aware that we are one of many countries thinking about towns, particularly small towns. One example of which we are aware, and with which we have a good connection, is the Scottish town partnership, which is a very good initiative. The Scottish Government has brought in direct actions to affect town centres. We do not believe that knowledge is common and how could it be known among community groups? Lack of knowledge of these international examples is a big downfall.

People then start from scratch again. They try to innovate. There is another pilot project or study, but not enough is learned from it. A town partnership would collate these projects and ensure that data are consistent and that consistent methods are applied. In looking at the issue of vacancy, the first step is to get consistent vacancy data for every town in Ireland. That is something Scotland's Towns Partnership has done quite effectively. It carried out a town audit. Every town is mapped in the context of vacancy levels, commuting data, and population. These are census statistics so much of it is already available. We then need to start looking at the commonalities between towns. What towns can be grouped together as facing the same issues? What towns have the same demographics? We do not have a central point of support for that in Ireland. That is a straightforward first step. After that, anything we talk about in respect of strategy must be grounded in a common methodology and a common level of analysis, rather than everybody trying to reinvent the wheel from scratch, which is a problem at present.