Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Town Centre First policy document, which I looked at initially when it was launched and in more detail thereafter. I welcome the focus and attention the Minister of State has brought to bear on the need to develop our towns and address the problem of dereliction, an issue many Deputies have raised. I welcome that focus. However, I must say, as other speakers from both sides of the House have said, I am quite concerned by what is not in the plan.

To discuss what is in the plan, one of the main actions is that a town regeneration officer will be appointed to each local authority. That is great but what is it really going to achieve? All local authorities have plenty of staff. It is not as if they do not have any employees. They do; they have lots of them. Some local authorities do not seem to have the political will to address the problem of dereliction. That is what I would like to see tackled. What is the problem? Some local authorities are quite proactive. Those in Limerick and Mayo were particularly proactive in 2019, according to the figures provided by the Minister of State. Other local authorities have been much less proactive. Some of them did not issue any derelict site notices. I find it hard to believe there are any counties in Ireland without derelict sites. It is a blight in every area. It is not as bad as it was and things have improved in the two years since the general election, I think it is fair to say, in most counties. However, it is still a problem that persists.

There is a view in Clare County Council that the problem is legislative and that the legislation needs to be changed. Has the Minister of State or the Department consulted with local authorities to know why the implementation of the derelict sites legislative machinery is so uneven? Some local authorities are able to work it but others are not. Is the problem legislative? Do we need legislative change? Is the problem a lack of resources in some counties? Is the problem that counties have no resources or that they choose to spend the money on other issues and problems? We need to see derelict sites being brought back into use. I think the Minister of State very much agrees with that and it is an ambition in this plan. I am not saying the Minister of State is a fan of derelict sites because nobody is. The question is what are we going to do about it. I do not see enough about that in the plan.

We also need to see pilot projects. It is obviously very expensive to bring older buildings up to the current building regulation standards. Ms Shelley McNamara, a leading architect in Grafton Architects, is a Clare woman who is no relation of mine. I would not damn her by claiming she supports me in any way whatsoever. However, she has called for pilot projects in our market towns to examine building regulations. Nobody is saying building regulations should be abandoned but to bring older houses to the same standard as a new-build is a big ask, particularly for protected structures. Is there a bit more work that could be done around that? While I welcome what is in the plan, I have concerns about what is not in it. I would like to see more of a focus on legislation and what needs to be done to make the Derelict Sites Act more active.

There is a reluctance in some local authorities to issue a compulsory purchase order because the authority may then be stuck with the building and must expend a lot of money to bring it up to the standard required. In Scotland, there are compulsory sales orders whereby an owner is forced to sell a property within a certain period of time and the market determines what it is worth.

Is that something the Minister of State has considered? It would require legislative change but the Department might look into it. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the leeway.

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