Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in today and for all the work they do. We are delighted they are contributing to our consideration of urban and rural regeneration. I will focus my initial round of questions on the urban. Hopefully I will get an opportunity to come back in later. We have a strict time limit.

In regard to the €1.286 billion in URDF funding, I agree it has the potential to be a game-changer. The north inner-city in Dublin Central was fortunate, and it was deserving, to get approximately €120 million of the funding announced under it for important projects, such as the fruit and vegetable market in Dublin 7, the national monument on Moore Street, the Moore Street market, Parnell Square, the city library, Mountjoy Square and the Five Lamps.

It is a fantastic way for the State to be investing. I would argue that it is long overdue and it is certainly more than a decade overdue.

I cannot let the witnesses out of here today without saying that there is huge frustration and disappointment that we are a year on from the announcement and I see very little evidence on the ground of the city council actually using those funds. I will use the fruit and vegetable market as an example. Not only is that a spectacular and purpose-built market building. If we were to try to set out today to build such infrastructure, the craftsmanship would be very hard to replicate. It is in great condition but we are not seeing any evidence of development. Millions of euro have been dedicated and given to Dublin City Council to reopen that market. I have a list as long as my arm of people who would go in there and reanimate it. This list includes everything from fresh food producers to cooked food producers and artists. How can the Department trigger the local authority to use those funds? How can the Department find out where is the bottleneck with the local authority?

It is a similar situation with residential properties in the north inner city. We have talked about the Town Centre First policy, and Housing For All has clearly called out the need for us to use and reuse existing building infrastructure. There is no more sustainable way to increase our housing stock than to use the housing stock that is already built. This is not happening. Dublin City Council has had a vacancy officer since 2017. The council, however, had a pitiful track record in this regard when council officials came in to speak with the committee about tackling dereliction and vacancy in the city. What can the Department do with the local authority to support them to actually open up those properties? The city is coming down with people looking for affordable homes. The city is coming down with people who are just looking for homes. Yet, we have endless vacancy and dereliction in the city. What can the Department do to support the local authority? The Department is clearly providing the funds but something more is needed.