Mr. David O'Connor:

In my time in Mayo County Council my colleagues and I looked at one of the rural towns. We were able to demonstrate that the centre of the town had become completely empty. Businesses were not viable because people were shopping in the bigger towns. There are huge opportunities for that to be dealt with if we can make the grants associated with the size of the capacity for the resolution. There is a social benefit to some and that should be brought into the assessment to give a higher grant level.