Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 44 together.

While our towns and villages have shown remarkable resilience through the recent crisis, they require specific policy supports to ensure they will continue to function as viable, vibrant and attractive locations for people to live, work and raise families, to act and serve as cultural and recreational hubs for the surrounding areas and to facilitate social and community interaction. In this context, the programme for Government committed to developing the Town Centre First initiative. With a view to giving effect to this commitment and the actions outlined in the programme for Government, a Town Centre First interdepartmental group was established in November 2020 to consider the regeneration of towns and villages. The group is jointly chaired by the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Rural and Community Development.

In parallel, a Town Centre First advisory group was established to enable the experiences of a broader group of stakeholders to be brought to bear in informing the process of policy development and will support the work of the interdepartmental group. Following the initial development stages through the forum of the interdepartmental group and the advisory group, four key pillars are in development as part of the Town Centre First framework via the support of dedicated working groups tasked with addressing governance and enabling structures, an economic and social purpose, a living towns approach and investment and resources.

Work has progressed well and draft working group papers are being developed for discussion, initially with the interdepartmental group, in the coming weeks. There is a general consensus among all the groups that there is no one solution or issue that can or should be addressed in isolation but rather that a Town Centre First framework should be holistic and capable of being tailored to address the individual needs, size and characteristics of a town. Until such time as this work has been further progressed and measures developed and agreed, it would be premature to comment on the specific matters raised. The aim is that the interdepartmental group will provide recommendations for consideration by the Government in June. It is envisaged that these recommendations will cover the short, medium and longer terms to 2040 to align with Project Ireland 2040.

See this speech in context