Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his gracious words about the work that has been undertaken by Waterford County Council. Great praise is due in particular to our director of services for housing.

As the question was grouped with another, I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak, but I am somewhat concerned that we are conflating serviced sites with Town Centre First. We are talking about two very different things. My central concern is that when we are talking about Town Centre First, I do not yet have a clear idea as to what Town Centre First means in an Irish context. I have a clear idea about the Scottish context. I have a clear idea about the collaborative town centre health check that the Heritage Council has but not yet about the Irish context. I ask the Minister of State to detail some of the models we are looking at and perhaps some of the stakeholder engagement for the town centre advisory group. That is very important because it is mentioned 20 times in the Housing for All document. It is essential to have a very clear understanding of what we are looking at.

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