Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Since 2016, my Department has been investing in the improvement of rural towns and villages through the town and village renewal scheme. A total of €78 million has been allocated through the scheme to date, and this investment has been augmented by the rural regeneration and development fund, which supports larger-scale town revitalisation projects.

The programme for Government includes a commitment for an expanded town and village renewal scheme to bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and to promote residential occupancy. This follows on from the pilot initiative led by my Department in 2019 to explore how to encourage increased residential occupancy in rural towns and villages. An independent report on the pilot initiative highlighted the complexity of the issues that influence town centre living. It emphasised the value of developing a shared vision, or master plan, for individual towns as part of the process of counteracting vacancy and dereliction and making town centres more attractive places in which to live.

I secured an additional €2 million in budget 2021 as part of the expanded town and village renewal scheme. This will be used to support the development of master plans that will provide a vision for the future of these towns and villages. I anticipate that the plans will identify strategic actions tailored to address the vacancy and town centre living issues specific to each town. This initiative will be progressed early in 2021, and further details will be announced at that time.

This action is just one element of the Government's approach to addressing the issue of vacancy and dereliction as part of a new Town Centre First approach. An interdepartmental group has been established to progress this. As part of its work, the group will examine the suggested actions in the report on the pilot town centre living initiative. The group is chaired jointly by my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and it is expected that it will bring forward proposals for the Government's consideration in the middle of next year.

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