Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, I am committed to increasing sustainable employment and supporting businesses across all sectors of the economy and in every town and village in the country. A key priority of this Government is to improve the living and working environment of local communities and to increase their potential to support increased economic activity into the future.

My Department provides many supports to assist small businesses to start and grow. The 31 local enterprise offices offer financial and soft supports in the form of training and mentoring to small and microenterprises across the country.

The implementation of the eight regional action plans will greatly benefit local economies, facilitating the development of local businesses and thus encouraging occupancy in work space and commercial properties in towns across the country.

Through the work of the retail consultation forum, which I chair, I support the work of the town centre revival working group. This group, the membership of which includes retail representative bodies and public sector bodies, is working towards the preparation of a framework for town centre revival. The framework will encourage collaboration between key stakeholders to implement initiatives to create and support vibrant town centres.

However, responsibility for planning rests with my colleague, the Minister for housing, planning and local government. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has responsibility for the retail planning guidelines which duly recognise that vibrant and viable town centres are the lifeblood of the local community and local economy. The guidelines set out the key policy objectives which should guide planning authorities in addressing retail development within their development planning role.

I come from a small village in County Galway where many of the shops that had been there for up to 70 years are now closed.

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