Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this debate because it concerns an area of deep interest to me. It is important that we debate and focus continually on how we can regenerate our towns and villages. As the Deputy requested, we will engage with the local authorities on the €30 million stimulus fund targeted at the renewal of towns and villages. We will be making calls in this respect. The local authorities will prioritise their submissions and send them to my Department, which will then assess them and make allocations accordingly.

Urban regeneration is very logical, and I support the Deputy in this regard. Urban regeneration is a priority for the Government. It is logical because it concerns sites in the middle of towns that are serviced in terms of infrastructure and public utilities. The sites are in the centre of communities and can be accessed by those communities. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to prioritise urban sites, including town-centre sites. For this reason, we brought forth the urban regeneration Bill in July of this year. There are a number of incentives in that legislation, but also a number of sanctions for landowners who do not bring their sites back into beneficial use. The Government will be and has been pursuing this vigorously.

I expect local authorities to be proactive in terms of the regeneration of sites, be they for commercial development or for housing, in town centres and villages. They have an obligation to be proactive. They need to resolve any issues associated with the sites. I encourage the local authorities, as the economy recovers and as opportunities arise, to bring sites back into beneficial use for the benefit of local economies and citizens in towns.

I acknowledge the role of NAMA, which is in control of many of the sites. It reports to the Minister for Finance. It needs to be made clear that NAMA has a social responsibility to make progress on the sites and remove them from the list of vacant, blighted or derelict sites. NAMA has a role in bringing forward proposals to bring sites back into beneficial use as early as possible. That message will be sent to those concerned.

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