Mr. Ian Doyle:

A lot of points ware raised there. I cannot respond to all of them but will pick out some of the key ones. Deputy Ó Laoghaire mentioned living over the shop and we would agree with him on that. We would see that as a key issue and a very difficult nut to crack. We have two demonstration projects funded through our historic towns initiative in Monaghan town. They are taking quite a bit of time but I am confident that we can come up with some good demonstration projects there. There are planning issues involved here but it is frequently said that the desire of people to live over the shop is not there, although I would question that. Fire certification is the other key issue, particularly if the ground floor is in commercial use. That has frequently been something of a hurdle to negotiate.

The Deputy mentioned compulsory purchase orders. We are aware of one or two local authorities that have taken a strong and bold approach to CPOs which has paid off. There is a body of expertise in some of the local authorities in how to use that particular instrument effectively and efficiently and maybe that is an area where learning could be shared.

I also note the Deputy's comments on Passage West. We were delighted to fund that. It is an amazing town settlement. It is hard to believe that an area so close to Cork city is showing such signs of under-use. A good plan could make a good impact there. We have pushed this idea of heritage-led regeneration across towns in Ireland over a number of years. The basis of it is that we put a plan together and we pick a couple of really important projects and that starts to send out a really strong signal that there is investment in a town. It is an approach that the town centre first policy is replicating. It is a little bit like the broken window theory. If we make a fix and show that somebody cares, things can pick up.

Ultimately projects like this, where so much of the money is channelled to local authorities, come down to local authority capacity. I take the points made by the representative from Roscommon County Council about funding. We believe that a full complement of staff, from a heritage perspective, which would include a heritage officer, an architect, a conservation officer, and a biodiversity officer, contributing to plans rather than relying on consultants who come and go and who have a very high day rate, can give a local authority a great advantage. Having in-house expertise that can contribute and collaborate and that brings knowledge of place is so beneficial. That knowledge of place is critical to the success of places. I was in Roscommon town about two weeks ago and was really struck by the quality of the new market square. It looks really well.

I also heard mention of graveyard committees and Tidy Towns groups. These are the kinds of groups that the Heritage Council funds through its community heritage grant scheme. We agree that they have good heritage impacts but they also bring people together and create social capital. We get reports of gatherings in community halls and people coming together to plan a project which demonstrates that heritage is a bit like glue. It brings people together and I would not underestimate that element of social capital that we see in those projects and programmes.