Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Kenny has raised this question on several occasions and he is right. He commented on dereliction in towns and villages. I will talk about this to the local authorities and state agencies. Every time they come seeking a new development or building, the first place they look at is a greenfield site. It is time for the councils and State agencies to start looking at towns and villages to see where they could put libraries. It need not always be out in a greenfield site. Why can they not come into these towns? If properties are derelict, why can they not buy them? If there is no title on them they should be used under the Derelict Sites Act. They have a responsibility as well. One thing that got us into a great deal of trouble was planning in towns. Shopping centres were brought outside towns and this killed the town centres. One town in which this did not happen is my home town of Westport and it works well. The local authorities have a part to play.

We have the LEADER programme to nurture job creation and ideas in farming. There will be new initiatives to encourage people on climate action.

We have to encourage people. We have to provide grant aid and assist and help them. There are great people out there with great ideas. We can see the initiatives they are setting up in every corner of the country. We sometimes forget this because they are indigenous industries, and we do not give them credit. If they are multinational companies, they are great people, but our own people are great too and create a lot of employment and jobs.

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