Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the representatives from the CCMA and the Department. Deputy Higgins nailed it by identifying that Waterford and Limerick are two exemplary local authorities in this sphere. I want to start off on a positive note to the CCMA. I thought the presentation was excellent. The samples of the works and the presentation is not something I have seen from the CCMA before. I think it is all impressive. I deal quite a lot with local authority members and they are very positive and excited about it so that is important. There is a real energy amongst our 949 county councillors. They see this as something that they can strongly advocate for because all politics is local. They live in their local villages and communities. They are particularly active in their local electoral areas.

They see something tangible. They can advocate for the shop that has been derelict for 30 years that is next door to the chapel that they pass by every Sunday. They can make a case for the derelict post office that it can be community space on the ground floor. The collaboration with LEO and the fact that we keep our ground-floor units for commercial or community use is important. We also have to protect the built heritage fabric these little villages and towns and that is important. At the moment, they are building social housing units over a shop in Dún Laoghaire in a place that you and I would love to live, right at the heart of the People’s Park. That is happening.

While we may be impatient for change, this is a good day. I am very impressed by the two presentations in terms of organisations and how they set things out. There will be learning curves and it has taken us years and years. The toolbox has been put in place for it. Yes, it is slow but the firm foundation is being done. I am impressed with what I have seen on the whole issue. What are we here talking about? We are talking about vacancy, dereliction, rejuvenation and rebuilding the core of our villages and towns. Well done to the witnesses.

The message for the CCMA has to be the following. Can we get targets? Can we get people on message to deliver? We have to set targets. I say this to Ms Timmons from the Department: we need a better mechanism for how they report back into us and other groups so that we can see some sort of monitoring, what the targets are and what has or has not been achieved. Well done to her.

The only issue I want to raise with the CCMA is this 54-staff shortfall, which is a lot of staff, and the hope and aspiration that it might have 100 posts filled. Effectively, we are talking about 441 posts unfilled. That is the message out of this meeting. If I were listening in and reporting about this meeting or if I were in the local authority sector, what would I be saying I gleaned out of today? I gleaned that we are down 441 staff that CCMA has identified out of a total of 541. I want to hear, not today but in the coming weeks, how we will get over that shortfall. How will the CCMA strongly and robustly lobby Government to get them? There are recruitment issues and I see many of our local authority members going to work for the board and into the private sector, and great on them. It is great to see movement and synergy. That is my ask and I will leave that with the witnesses.

I thank Ms Timmons again for the way she set it down and addressed vacancy in the context of Housing for All. That is the Government policy. It does not matter whether anyone else or I likes it; that is Government policy. That is her agenda and she has to deliver on it. That is her mandate. It is important that we go back to the targets.

It all goes down to this thing about mapping, data and the GIS issue. I think we are seeing this more in development of strategic, local authority and county development plans. Everything is data and information. Everything should be layers and layers. For far too long in local government, planning and housing policy, we have had far too many different sectors, different maps and different plans. We should be able to touch a button with technology today and be able to drop down a layering so we know the zoning and objectives. All of those things should be read like a book. The technology exists now. I think we are embracing it and there are great plans within the Department in respect of An Bord Pleanála. So much of this stuff does not need to be repeated. We know where there are flood plains now. We know where there is commercial zoning, residential zoning, open amenity and maritime-related zonings. It is back to more resources for GIS mapping. Some local authorities are better skilled and equipped with it. Again, this goes back our shortfall of 441 staff in terms of the skill sets required.

I ask Ms Timmons to talk about how we will progress this issue of vacant data collection. I note there were 18 local authorities engaged in it so far, fully up to speed or on the way to being up to speed. There is a challenge of how we can address that. She touched on something, and I will finish on this point, namely the EU Bauhaus project funding and the possibilities there. We see the central mental hospital down in Wexford empty and huge institutional buildings that are protected structures or buildings of heritage significance and importance. Yet, we can travel all over Europe and see buildings similar to these old prisons, mill houses, harbour yards and tram yards converted imaginatively into residential property. Perhaps she can touch on how she will access that funding and the likelihood of that funding. That is something I have not heard before and would be interested in.

This is all positive. It might not be as fast as we want it but the foundations are certainly being put in place. There is huge enthusiasm among our elected members for it. There is buy-in everywhere and it is win-win situation for everybody.

Data, data collection, GIS mapping and critical information has to be resourced. What will the local authority do in terms of cranking up a campaign and getting political? The CCMA is capable of that and well done to it. It has huge resources and huge clout within local government. I will go from here continuing to raise the issue of the shortfall of these staff. The CCMA needs our support here as it does for itself. There were just two questions there.