Ms Giulia Vallone:

I thank the Senator for her question. I will start with the lowest hanging fruit, as she mentioned.

There are some practical opportunities that, being a practitioner, I would suggest. The first is having a vision or plan. In Clonakilty, for example, we had a plan. This would be a catalyst for any opportunity of funding before opportunities come, not only to react to when they come but to be prepared. This vision is strategically important, not only as a catalyst for funding but also to inform and inspire the citizens. We are building, with Cork County Council, a nurturing of stewardship with the community at every opportunity, for instance, in the colour scheme, the Christmas lighting and all of this wealth of activity that brings people to be interested in the town centre.

One important lowest hanging fruit is to stop doing things wrongly and stop the decay before we think too much of what to do. Unfortunately, every day I see shopfronts being abused, neglected or transformed. This is a big deal in our town centres. For example, let us declutter everything before we start buying other things or furnish the town centre. There is much unused street furniture: bollards, inappropriate street lighting and road marking. This is very much a cost-effective opportunity to clean up the town centre. Between having a vision and clean-up is starting to see what the opportunities are. Even those vacant buildings come up into the conversations. Maybe having some informative plans designed can stimulate attraction, not only from the point of view of a community but also investors, and an opportunity to re-function those buildings.