Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the witnesses. I want to briefly return to Baggot Street hospital. This morning at the first meeting of the Dublin south-east regional health forum, my colleague, Councillor Dermot Lacey, heard from a HSE official who was adamant that Baggot Street hospital had been offered to the Department of housing.

I know the LDA came back to my colleague, Deputy Bacik, and said an approach was not made to the LDA under section 53 to dispose of the site. Will the witnesses confirm whether an approach was made by the HSE in relation to Baggot Street? Was the approach turned down and will the witnesses elaborate on the reasons for that?

I want to ask about Carlow and the living city initiative. I know that initiative was extended in the recent budget but not to certain areas. Would it make a difference to business owners with vacant properties in those area?

I have picked up on some disappointment over Dublin City Council's pausing of the adaptive reuse programme after much work on identifying suitable properties, stakeholder engagement and conducting feasibility studies. Why was that action taken? How will the work, personnel and buildings identified as suitable for residential use be incorporated in the new approach? What are the shortcomings of the living city initiative when it comes to its application within Dublin City Council? We see much higher application of other grant schemes but there seems to be a very limited uptake within Dublin City Council's administrative area and across the five councils.