Mr. Andrew Forde:

To build on what Mr. O'Brien has said, the logic of this whole town centre first intervention has been around establishing engagement with the communities, trying to understand the specificities of every rural town, developing a vision and an associated plan, and then funding that in an appropriate way over time. We are seeing a very clear and concrete impact by the appointments of the town regeneration officers, supported by a very competent national town centre first office, which is becoming a centre of excellence when it comes to these issues.

We see the town regeneration officers as a key linchpin between the local authority, the community and the relevant Departments, including ourselves and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. They are the eyes and ears on the ground. They are the ones who understand the opportunities, the limitations, and the capacities of local authorities. They can guide the town teams to develop plans that are meaningful, appropriate and achievable for their particular area.

We have 26 town regeneration officers in place. We have gone through a process of the town centre living initiative, in which six towns were involved, including Boyle. The Leas-Chathaoirleach mentioned Cappoquin. We should note that Cappoquin was the first town to win the town centre first award under the national Tidy Towns competition this year, which is a new initiative. Our intention is to work now to develop more plans and for another tranche of towns to take part.

The point has to be made, which goes back to a comment by Mr. Doyle earlier, around the importance of building capacity within local authorities. This is where we see the role of the town regeneration officer to really develop that capacity from within, to carry out the more comprehensive health checks, to help town teams to develop their plans accordingly, and to draw the linkages and make the connections right across local government.