Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Donovan from Cork Cycling Campaign spoke earlier about changing attitudes, changing the message, trying to get people to buy into that and - Chairman, you touched on this - changing people's behaviour, their attitudes and the culture of society at present regarding the car. Society is about the car instead of it being about walking, cycling and using public transport.

Mr. Donovan mentioned what we need to do to change that. Perhaps he will comment a little more on that. Also, Dr. D'Arcy spoke about access to bicycles. She referred to the bike to work scheme being a great scheme for people who have decent jobs and wages. She also mentioned having a shared bicycle scheme, trying to get access to bicycles for more people, and making it cheaper and easier to access. Is there an example she would suggest in that regard?

With regard to the Heritage Council, the town health checks is an excellent idea. It is very positive. Does it work in an urban setting? My constituency of Cork North-Central includes Blackpool and Shannon Street. Blackpool is a village within a city. It has great heritage dating back hundreds of years. However, it has been neglected over the years, resulting in dereliction, vacancy and no investment in cycle lanes or green spaces and public parks. Looking at what happened in Blackrock, I would love to see something similar happening in Blackpool.

Ms Harvey spoke about vacancy. There is a report released today which says there are 90,100 vacant properties at present. In Cork, there are 8,880 between the city and county. These are a blight on the communities, and if we are going to make communities good places to live and have a good public realm, the issue of vacancy and dereliction must be tackled. Otherwise, these will not be communities in which people will want to live.