Mr. Paul Hogan:

We had a delegation over from Flanders, which has 6 million and is roughly the same size as Ireland, in 2019, when it was possible to travel. We brought them to Limerick and Tipperary and it was fascinating to see those areas through their eyes. We intended at some point to learn from them. They have particular regeneration in a town called Roeselare. It is a larger town than those typically in Ireland, and what they have done there is to target empty shops, parking in town centres, public spaces and people's enjoyment of the place. They have refurbished a church for a market. They have addressed supports for innovative businesses. These are all the elements you would expect in a playbook for regeneration. We are also interested in seeing the car-free city approach in Ghent.

We are looking at an example in Portugal of a scheme with the regional assemblies with a view to applying that potentially for a European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, application in Ireland because it targets, for example, low-interest loans for people who are refurbishing historic properties in towns.

On a larger city scale, what has been done in Copenhagen is probably the best example for Ireland to follow, especially for Dublin. It is a similar scale country in terms of population and relationship with the capital city. They put in place a development corporation - the unique hybrid model - there for the public asset corporation to redevelop the harbour, fund the metro and the urban development area coming out of the city.