Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Gould and the Minister. They have had a good long time.

The local government funding is extremely positive. I am intrigued. Like Deputy McAuliffe, I will not push the Minister on the additional resources for local authorities shortly to be announced under Housing for All, but it is extremely important. Deputy Gould raised the issues of dereliction and vacancy. We can do a lot more throughout our towns and villages. Housing for All puts some very positive policy measures in place to help us to do that in terms of Croí Cónaithe and the local authority CPO functions we will introduce.

Staff will be required to do that. I know the Minister is aware of that, and has travelled extensively to meet chief executives. He knows about the staff pressures in local authorities, especially in areas involving CPOs for vacant and derelict properties and the extra planning functions that will be required. He understands the importance of the planning function and the interaction with the public realm that we need to offer. As we regenerate and improve town centres, villages and city centres, and bring vacant commercial properties, including those with units over shops, into residential use, mixed use or whatever, there will have to be investment in the public realm.

We often look to a European model that involves a lot of urban and town centre living but, in many of those places, they have good, open public spaces and parks. It is important that we have the staff in place to design, create and maintain those spaces, right down to the staffing levels in local authorities for outdoor and parks maintenance. It requires a complex combination of staff working hard at local authority level to create those nice public spaces near which people want to live. I attended the Irish Planning Institute conference recently, where I heard a presentation by Fáilte Ireland. The point was made that if we plan towns and villages in which people want to live, tourists will want to visit them. We all see the evidence of that and I know the Minister is aware of it and will take the measures required to deliver on the Housing for All objectives. That plan includes the largest-ever budget of €20 billion over the next five years for the provision of social and affordable housing.

I recently raised with the Minister in the Dáil the issue of the provision of biodiversity officers at local authority level, which is crucial. We had representatives of the Heritage Council before the committee some time ago for what was a very positive session. All members are supportive of the work the council is trying to do across the country, as well as the incredibly important work of the heritage officers at local authority level. The heritage officer in my local authority in Wicklow has a tremendous work output, which is appreciated by all council members and residents who interact with the work being done. Just like we have heritage officers across our local authorities, I would really like to see the day when we have biodiversity officers throughout the State to support the good work of the planners.

My ultimate wish in terms of local authority staffing is to see county architects, who have a critical role in the planning process, in place throughout the State. Planners look at individual planning applications and we have local area plans, county development plans and action areas. A county architect can look at everything with a different set of eyes and bring all the elements together in a cohesive development approach across counties and towns. I welcome the Supplementary Estimate and invite the Minister to respond if he so wishes.