Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The new programme for partnership Government sets out the ambitious priority attached to urban regeneration by the new Government. This is an area in which we wish to engage, specifically by redesigning and enhancing the current scheme. A series of specific actions has been set out as to how it is proposed to facilitate the regeneration of our urban centres, many of which were adversely impacted by our recent economic difficulties.

In this context, the Government intends to introduce a new town and village renewal scheme. This is part of my brief and it will be done in conjunction with the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, to support the revitalisation of our towns and villages and improve the living and working environment of communities. As Deputy Cowen stated, the objective will be to bring buildings back into use and make towns and villages attractive places not only to work and live but also to expand business or bring buildings back into use. Using the €30 million available to local authorities for town and village regeneration from this year, it is envisaged that the scheme will seek to increase the attractiveness and sustainability of our towns and villages as places to live and work. I visited Clara yesterday and while it is not a small town, it is under severe pressure, with 64 empty premises on its streets. The focus will, as Deputy Cowen stated, be on bringing empty premises back into use and trying to make upstairs accommodation liveable again, where possible.

It is also intended to examine a series of further initiatives, including the introduction of a similar scheme to the Living City initiative to regenerate urban centres and villages; reclassifying and incentivising the use of under-utilised or vacant areas above ground floor premises in urban areas for both residential and commercial use; examining the scope to reform the Derelict Sites Act to tackle the under-use and hoarding of derelict land by the State, semi-State and private sectors; and the establishment of a national register of derelict sites, in addition to the new vacant site levy, to bring vacant and under-utilised sites into beneficial use for housing and urban regeneration purposes. The vacant site levy is a form of threat, whereas Deputy Cowen is seeking the introduction of measures to encourage and reward activity. Such measures will be considered as part of our new plan and we will examine the possibility of mandating local authorities with better land management powers, including the possibility of additional CPO capabilities. Deputy Cowen's question refers to these capabilities.

To drive forward these considerations, I will chair a working group comprising senior representatives from my Department, local authorities and other relevant actors, which has been established to bring forward proposals in the near future and allow proposals to be made to increase funding in this area in budget 2017.

See this speech in context