Mr. Odran Reid:

I refer to two of the regulations, the fire and building regulations. The Department has said there is a review of fire regulations due. It is not that anybody wants people to be burnt down or anything like that. The concept here is that people lived over shops previously and somehow we have built our regulations up to a point where they are making it difficult to do so. There is a cost in materials and in access and egress from shops that have been there for some time.

There is also something to be addressed with the owners of these premises. There is a fear of change. We have seen a number of places where people do not want anything to happen because it discommodes how they work and we have to overcome that. Some of that work might be done by the local authority proactively working in areas. The example of Carrickmacross was given earlier on. It had a whole street worked on in a space in time. That makes it cheaper. That gives people the experience of how to do this.

On the skill levels involved in doing this, something that is not being mentioned is design. We are good at making boxes in terms of planning but some of these can turn out to be attractive.

There is not a significant return for some of the owners. The return is elsewhere. That is where grant aid comes in. I am not necessarily always in favour of giving grants for private development, but something like this is about embellishing towns and cities and that is worthwhile.