Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Free Market, Cappoquin Community Development, the Castleblayney Regeneration Committee and Clarecastle Community Development. It has been interesting to hear their insights. I have a couple of questions. A lot has already been said about these issues. A couple of things stand out. The picture our guests paint does not surprise me. They referred to funding from various sources, volunteers' time being spent on various pieces of administration and some of it not having a meaningful effect. Speaking as a former town and county councillor, it strikes me that many of these issues are handled in other countries by strong local government. In Ireland, local government is the nominal concern of part of one Department. I am not saying this to have a go. Functional democracy needs a Department with no remit other than that relating to local government. It must be totally committed to that without being dragged in any other direction. We need strong local authorities to address many of these issues.

Local government has been weakened. I refer to the creation of municipal districts. In principle, the party I represent supports that kind of municipal structure but the districts should be more focused around the nuclei of larger towns with smaller towns feeding into them. This would give local government more of a presence. The witnesses from Free Market mentioned Mountmellick. There is now one county councillor in that area, where previously there was a town council. Granted, the town council did not have enough power and there were other problems. One could say that the abolition of the rates system in 1977 destroyed local government, but we are where we are. A lot of these questions can be answered through the reinstitution of strong local government. When the legislation passed in 2014, a door was still open to the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, to strengthen local authorities. As well as politicians, groups like those represented here must talk about that. It comes through very obviously. I would like Free Market's views on that.

I find the different streams of funding difficult to follow. Many other areas were not mentioned today. Many new bodies have been set up under local authorities, including local area groups and planning inspectors. One almost has to keep a list in one's pocket to remember what each one stands for. That is another problem. I would like our guests' views on that.

Turning to Cappoquin Community Development, Mr. McCarthy mentioned that too much property is concentrated in too few hands. Should compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, be used more? Empty buildings are found in every town. My home town is Mountrath. About two years ago, I did a quick survey while walking around and counted 44 empty buildings, including houses and shops, in three small streets at the core of the town. That is very typical. One can see it driving through country towns. Mountmellick is the same. Since Free Market last visited in the town, the post office, the last remaining outpost of the State in the middle of Mountmellick, has moved to the shopping centre on the outskirts. We raised this with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, at the time but everyone seems to be powerless. I argued in the Dáil that the Minister is the sole shareholder on behalf of the public. We own An Post. It does not belong to Tesco, Lidl or anyone else, it is ours. We own the post office and the network. We need a more hands-on approach to that. Should CPOs be used more to address the concentration of property in too few hands?

My other question is for Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Wilson from Cappoquin Community Development and it relates to derelict sites. We have to be realistic about a lot of towns and villages. One of our guests said that there will not be that much commercial activity. We have an inside-out approach to planning. Houses are built all over the place, while the centres of towns and villages are hollowed out. There are old premises in the centres of towns, including several in Mountmellick, Mountrath, Rathdowney, etc. If those buildings were hit with the back bucket of a JCB they would come tumbling down. They are hundreds of years old. Ridiculously, some of them are listed structures. I am all for the conservation of what is worth conserving, but these structures cannot be conserved. Nobody will ever live in them again. Retrofitting them would cost twice as much as constructing a new building. Moreover, a lot of them have an acre of back garden behind them. Walking along the backs of streets in those towns one can see that those houses have an acre of space behind them in traditional long walled gardens. Surely we should get people living there again. We should build on those gardens. The Senator beside me mentioned disabilities. People with disabilities are living in bungalows five miles down the road. We need to put people in accessible places. People with families and children could live on those new streets and walk to the local school.

My final question is for the Castleblayney Regeneration Committee. The witnesses from Clarecastle Community Development may also wish to comment. I welcome any funding for the redevelopment of towns and villages. I am not here to criticise the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring. He has done a lot of work on this. It is a big priority for him. For the first time, the Government has set up a Department with responsibility for rural and community development. Those are welcome developments. I acknowledge that. I am not having a go; I am on the other side of the House and I am concerned with how we can do a bit better. Disbursing €30,000 here, €40,000 there and €70,000 somewhere 20 miles down the road has very little impact.

A person who wants to convert his or her attic is looking at €40,000, and if he or she wants to add a kitchen or build a 100 yd. footpath, the money is gone. Realistically, should we not be looking more at an overall plan in terms of stronger local government so that we could put in new short streets with ten townhouses or bungalows in some of those towns so that instead of everywhere getting a few bob and one for everybody in the audience, a couple of hundred thousand euro could be provided to ensure that the overall streetscape could be enhanced? We could be a bit more directive with the likes of the HSE and An Post and tell them it is Government policy and that the HSE must try to put a new health centre in the town centre. Government and local government could be stronger and a bit more hands-on.