Mr. Derek Tynan:

I wish to express my personal support for what Deputy O'Dowd has been saying regarding the supports that need to be put in place. My mother had a long leaving of 14 years, suffering from dementia. Thankfully, she moved from an isolated rural house to a house in the middle of Athy and therefore lived within 500 metres of the town square, the church and all other amenities. She was also in a small community which looked after her. The housing unit helped, as did the support of the community. That is extraordinarily important in terms of how we move forward. We have spoken about intensification in terms of identifying sites within towns that could be used for supported living or at least for smaller units that are mainstream in one sense but with some support.

That brings me to a bigger issue about our towns.

I am originally from Athy, a town that is in serious difficulty in terms of its urban fabric and what supports it. Rather like the Department's living-over-the-shop initiatives which are not really working, tax incentives do not generally begin to ensure implementation of such policies. There may be a policy to incentivise the conversion and rehabilitation of lots of existing housing stock that could be used as housing for general use and as housing suitable for elderly people. It may take a policy of saying there will be a grant of €50,000 to €75,000, but I would have thought - I am not involved with the Department - a sum of that figure would be needed to actually persuade people to do it, rather than saying they can avail of a capital grant which they will receive in the next five to ten years.