Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My few comments will follow on from those of Deputy Leddin without my having planned it. Huge opportunities will arise for rural Ireland and especially our towns and villages if we embrace wholeheartedly the infrastructures of the future. There is a danger that the way we think about rural Ireland is about looking backwards at some of the infrastructure that served us well in the past.

However, the infrastructure of the future is the national broadband plan with its highways of fast communications; renewable energy, which will transform this country and in which respect we have a unique opportunity; and the retrofitting programme, comprising an investment of €8 billion that focuses particularly on rural Ireland where the greatest problems with poor housing infrastructure exist. Between these, we are discussing a €40 billion investment that is coming down the tracks and will focus largely on rural Ireland. How do we ensure we take maximum advantage of this? Members of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party have been doing intensive work, which I believe the Minister of State knows about. In a document, we have made 26 practical suggestions on how we can enliven the growth of our towns and villages and bring vacant properties back into use.

What is remarkable in the work that has been done is the considerable variation across counties in the uptake of opportunities offered by some of the existing programmes, for example, the various renewal and lease programmes for tackling vacancies. The strongest performing county has addressed 13% of its vacant units and brought them back into use while many counties at the bottom of the league have addressed less than 1%. Counties have used the incentives differently, so it is important we develop best practice. The same is true of the use of the Derelict Sites Act, compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, and programmes like the town and village renewal scheme and the rural development fund. These programmes are significant. In Munster and Connacht alone, they are funding nearly 1,000 projects worth nearly €300 million.

In what the Government is doing today, I welcome the concept of a partnership that is coherent at local level and will add value to the diverse supports for community initiatives. It is remarkable. I have listed off many of the schemes – sustainable energy communities, active travel, renewal and lease, the Derelict Sites Act, CPOs, business improvement districts, sports capital grants, the community enhancement programme, the historic structure fund and the living city initiative. I could go on and on about the schemes, but what is missing is the glue that pulls them together into a coherent plan. It is important we address this point.

We have allocated €100,000 to 26 towns, one for every county. I will illustrate the differences. In Mayo, Killala is a town with 600 people. In Donegal, Buncrana has 7,000 people. The question will automatically arise as to how the selection of these towns for master planning will influence the allocation of resources. It would be a terrible shame if a dead hand was placed on the valuable community initiatives that are being undertaken in all the other towns and villages while we wait for this better model and its tools to come forward. If it is not impertinent to do so, I advocate that we add a small premium of 5% or 10% to the grants under the current schemes concerned with town and village renewal. In this way, those who take on this work would be rewarded without placing a dead hand on current initiatives.

I welcome the expansion of the town health check but there should be a threshold test before towns or villages are included in it. We cannot just produce plans to sit on shelves. There has to be clear intent from any town that qualifies for the health check so that we genuinely build momentum.

Something is missing. Where is the public service in this? In Scotland where this approach was pioneered, there was a national directive to every public body that it had to focus on town centres. In reviewing its plans, the HSE or any other body would, as a principle, consider town centres first in an attempt to revive them. That needs to be brought into the mix here.

I cannot sit down without making a strong appeal to the Minister of State to consider the new towns that are developing on the fringes of our cities. I represent some of them. Generally, they have crude retail services, underdeveloped education systems – often, they have to wait five years for education or transport – poor childcare and very few sports facilities. The town centre first policy needs to cover these emerging communities and we need to ring-fence funding to allow them to develop. They do not have the natural asset of a strong GAA or soccer club. They must build those from scratch. This must form part of the policy.

The Ceann Comhairle has given me the opportunity to raise a final point. We must open up our publicly funded facilities to enhance communities. This applies to school assets in particular. We must allow them to play a part in developing a campus of activities around the valuable investments we have made in our communities.

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