Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Engagement with the task force could be timed in a number of different ways. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is involved in developing the town centres first strategy, which I understand is close to being ready for publication. The task force could work with him on that. It could also build on what the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, has done in implementing an historic change in terms of identifying vacant sites and lands that are not being developed and including them in the zoned land tax proposal he has brought forward. That should, more than anything, give a clear signal as to how we can bring life back into our towns and put buildings and accommodation back into town centres. The great advantage of this is that it uses existing resources. People can walk or cycle to the school, church or pub. It avoids having to constantly build out and spend a huge amount of resources on an ever more dispersed population model. The establishment of a Tipperary town task force is very timely and it could work with what the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, is doing on the town centres first policy and in conjunction with transport developments.

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