Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the speakers. I will direct my questions to Dr. Daly. I compliment him and his team for how they have worked diligently to help transform our city centre. They do a lot of work to encourage businesses to survive and prosper and to get people into the cities.

I know Dr. Daly has worked very closely with Limerick Chamber of Commerce. Its excellent report, The Future Development of Limerick City, painted a really positive picture of transforming Limerick into an urban environment where significantly higher numbers of individuals live in the city and others are attracted to visit and to participate in cultural, hospitality, educational and other activities. It estimated that we would need 1,100 additional homes in the city each year. I want to revisit the issue of the Opera Centre in that context. The word "balance" has been mentioned. I think we all agree that we have to get the balance right. Given the aim of revitalising our city by getting more people to live in the city centre and in light of the urgent need for affordable housing, should we not revisit the balance in the Opera Centre and perhaps look at increasing the housing element?