Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That is good to hear because I have seen, as I am sure many have, at local authority level the benefits these public space and public realm investments that you see across many towns and villages can bring. It acts as a stimulus as well, if the local authority invests in the local town or creates this nice place.

I was glad to hear Ms Graham mention place making in her opening statement. I was at a presentation by IDA Ireland at the Irish planning conference many years ago at which it was said that this principle of place making is so important for people who want to invest, not only local investment but for foreign direct investment as well. Companies that want to invest in Ireland - it does not matter if you have the best broadband and the best industrial estate - want nice places for the families that go with those jobs. Place making is incredibly important and this can help towards it.

Where the local authority invests in it, and it might create that stimulus for a private building owner who wants to develop over-the-shop or a derelict site, it is my understanding that the regulations around this are quite cumbersome. I will direct this question to Mr. Logan as it is probably planning related. We have got the planning exemption for certain developments but the process for the fire safety certificate, the accessibility certificate and the section 57 certificate for the certification at the end of it seems to involve quite an onerous number of hoops somebody has to jump through. What has being suggested to me is that where it is a small development of maybe two or three apartments above the shop, the expense that goes with that process is disproportionate to the overall conversion or refurbishment project. Do we need to look at streamlining certain regulation processes around development in order to maximise the local authority's investment in that town as well?