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

In 2019 nearly €72 million will be spent on existing regeneration programmes. There will be more schemes under the urban regeneration fund to enhance that work and to continue with that even in the years beyond the scope of Rebuilding Ireland because the work we are doing is essential.

The 50 projects that will bring forward the 1,000 new houses as well as the retrofit of other houses are monitored and checked on a weekly basis. The Deputy can also check that online. I believe three or four projects in Limerick are due to start this year and to be completed in 2020 and 2021.

The Deputy is right in saying that it is not just about construction and housing. It is about bringing in new skills, new enterprise opportunities and new job opportunities. There is investment in market-led skills training, in community and social enterprises and in strategic projects, resulting in more than 300 jobs mainly, I think, in Limerick.

The hospitality education and training centre in Roxboro has 250 people progressing from work training into employment. The Deputy would have been involved in that in her time as Minister for Education and Skills. We are trying to encourage more of that.

In Limerick the two key acquisitions of the former Biblical Centre and the opera site have the potential to deliver significant employment opportunities in the future. Their vision is that the redevelopment of strategic sites such as the opera site will facilitate the economic, social and physical regeneration of the city. To this end Limerick City and County Council secured loans of €85 million from the European Investment bank and €85 million from the Council of Europe Development Bank to redevelop the site which was purchased in 2012 for €12.5 million. The adjacent granary building was purchased in 2012 for €3.5 million. It is hoped that these will provide significant opportunity for training and education, but will also create significant jobs and benefit the area.

That is ongoing work as part of the regeneration. While local authorities are driving this regeneration, it is important that every other Department also gets behind it along with the local groups across the sectors. On the basis of my visits to these projects my sense is that that is happening. We want to continue with that work. Housing is only one part of it. Having the physical infrastructure right is very important to drive the regeneration. That is what we are trying to do through the Department's budget.

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