Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy made a couple of good points. To address one of them, first, let us remember what we are focusing on. We are focusing on commercial units that have been vacant for two or more years, and we are adding public houses to those. Many of these will be on our main streets in towns and urban areas, but they will be in rural areas too. The exemption applies across the board.

The fabric of the building must be maintained. The idea of altering the facade or adding to the front would not be allowed. The fabric of the building has to be maintained. Any conservation measures, street lines and such issues would all have to be maintained. There is also a requirement that notification be given to the planning authority two weeks prior to the commencement of any works. In the Deputy's area of Finglas or in Santry, Dublin City Council would have to be contacted before the work commences. There is no fear, which residents might have, of major changes to the footprint of these areas.

What is very positive about this is that we are going be able to try to get people and families back living in these areas. I have seen it happen in a number of towns and villages, such Fermoy, Waterford, Limerick and Clonmel. There has been some success around this. The take-up heretofore has not been bad. We are looking at 1,400 residential units being provided in what were empty and unused spaces. I believe we can do a lot better than that. This change will help. We will have to keep these measures under review because I want the figure to increase substantially year on year. As the Deputy knows, Housing for All has a real focus on vacancy and getting vacant units back into use, and this is one measure that will help.