Mr. Keith Rogers:

I can give the Deputy a personal example. Estate agents go with the trendy centres. We were looking to expand some years ago and estate agents told us to stay away from Limerick city and that the Crescent Shopping Centre in Dooradoyle is where it is at. Retail Excellence organised an initiative with local government to promote Limerick city. We opened in Thomas Street in Limerick and got a better deal and better property costs. We have been in a store there since 2016 and are delighted with it. It is one of our most successful stores and most improved on a like-for-like basis. There are great examples of this. Michael Walsh, the city and county manager in Waterford, is the best in the business. It is an awful pity we cannot clone him. We need a manager to take responsibility for the town; look at the mix in it; see whether we have shoe shops, clothes shops, department stores and appropriate eateries and night-time and day-time outlets; and compete with shopping centres. Shopping centres and out-of-town centres, including those in Longford and the Deputy's constituency up as far as Carrick-on-Shannon, are dragging people out of towns and centres. We can promote our towns with events. There are great examples of this in the likes of Westport, Galway and Limerick. We created an initiative a couple of years ago with Carlow where people could be charged car park prices at the times they are coming anyway to incentivise them to come in during late afternoon when they do not come in and the car parks are sitting empty. There are loads of things that can be done. There are activities that can be done in link areas. The Deputy spoke about the circular economy and promoting events in the evenings or in parks or other public spaces.