Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

Dublin City Council has prioritised the programme of regeneration and is making submissions to us in that regard. In regard to the public private partnerships, the market conditions are not there, except in exceptional circumstances where local authorities' land or sites would command a high value or price. They fell away in 2008. One of the problems was putting all the eggs in one basket in terms of relying on public private partnerships as a way to deal with this issue.

Dublin City Council is very much engaged with the residents. It has discussed details of the conditions with the residents and agreed with them that it will have further discussions with them after the first 20 properties have been surveyed to see what emerges and how it will progress. It is important that this process continues without let-up. I am pleased the local authority has engaged with the tenants directly. The conditions survey is being carried out and must be completed quickly. I assure the Deputy that my Department will work with Dublin City Council, which is the responsible authority. Funds are limited but we have secured 25% of the available capital funding for regeneration projects.

Deputy Kitt must realise that the Ballymun regeneration is proceeding apace. Some €700 million has already been spent on this, which is the biggest regeneration project in Europe. Some €53 million has been allocated towards it, with €35 million allocated to Limerick. The Limerick project will cost €346 million, to be completed in 2015 or thereabouts. Money is extremely limited and I do not want to give false hope to people. I will work with local authorities to ensure there is necessary additional funding. I will engage in this regard to ensure that, as a first step, appropriate remedial and refurbishment works take place.

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