Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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Town Centre First involves climate action also. It involves ensuring livability and walkability by seeking to regenerate parts of town centres to make it easier to live in the second and third storeys of buildings. It is not by lowering standards but by making the process easier to engage in. That is critical to it.

I was at the Irish Planning Institute conference last week. There was a really great presentation made by Fáilte Ireland. Reference was made to heritage and the planning system. To paraphrase the presenter, it is a question of having a planning system that concentrates on the public realm and heritage to create places where people want to live. Putting town centres and people first in towns creates places where people want to visit. I do not want to take up all the time because we will probably be talking about heritage all day.