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

That supports the argument on both sides here. A reduction in some municipal areas might be a better way to do it. That is worth thrashing out.

The scheme involving investment in the order of €12 million will strengthen Navan's case. It will also strengthen economic growth in the town, supporting business, retail and tourism to meet the needs of Navan for present and future generations. I have seen many similar schemes proposed for other towns in my travels over the past year or two.

I could cite other projects that have been brought forward since the 2014 re-organisation on lines similar to the Navan programme, such as the €3.2 million Tralee urban development project which Kerry County Council is developing with the close involvement of the Tralee municipal district members to revitalise, regenerate and improve the urban environment of the town of Tralee. In many areas projects of this scale and ambition would not have been feasible through the former town council system. I am not saying all areas but many areas, especially with constrained resources in the wake of the economic crisis which really affected many provincial towns in recent years. We may all accept that fact: it is not because of the changes made to town councils that some towns have suffered but because of the times we were in, and if we are to have a discussion or an argument and make decisions we should probably base them on factual evidence as we go along.

The current strong and integrated system means local authorities are much better positioned to address these problems than the former system with 114 separate local authorities could possibly be. Further examples of continued and enhanced focus on towns by local authorities include: town management and development initiatives; creation of town teams to support the municipal districts; establishment of town forums; enabling the private voluntary and community sectors to work with the local authority to promote and market a town and support the municipal districts; the environmental community and economic activity; rates relief and waiver schemes; and use of former town council premises as enterprise centres in some cases. In our case the local sports partnership will come into that building which puts sports at the centre of a town and sends a message to young people. Some interesting programmes have happened because of this, as well as the provision of facilities such as public parks, playgrounds and closed circuit television, CCTV. Not all town councils really represented their towns when it came to meeting their different needs. In some town councils there were reports over the years of differences in relationships with local businesses. Some of these town fora which I have watched develop over the past three or four years have worked quite well. There are some things we can learn from as we make the changes.

A range of initiatives, plans and programmes is being implemented, not only to revitalise towns but to maximise their capacity to act as key economic and social drivers for the wider hinterlands. As one of the Ministers of State in charge of urban renewal and regeneration, that is something I take a very active interest in. We are making several proposals in that area which will help revitalise and rejuvenate towns, regardless of the changes that will be made to the situation. Previous ones include the regional action plan for jobs, the local economic and community plans and schemes and programmes under which significant funding schemes are available for town development and improvement such as the town and village renewal scheme and the designated urban centres grant scheme.

Many local authorities have put in place arrangements to maximise the opportunities under these programmes and funding lines, ensure a strong focus on the management and development of towns and a provide for a co-ordinated approach to the economic, social and cultural regeneration of towns and their environs. In addition to securing and co-ordinating investment under national and EU programmes, local authorities are making significant investments in town development and enhancement from their own resources, for example, through property tax revenue and savings from local authority reorganisation, or by providing matching funding under various programmes or on a stand-alone basis. For towns and rural areas which did not previously have local government arrangements, the benefits of local government reorganisation have been particularly important. Members spoke today about four or five areas which had town councils, but there were many towns which did not. In most counties, fewer towns had them than did not. That is not good enough. How could one make a decision at that time on reform? It was not possible to have the resources to widen the net to give all towns councils, but that is the reform being suggested. There are many good examples of towns which have benefitted through these changes.

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