Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Government recently published "Town Centre First - A Policy Approach for Irish Towns". This publication represents a major new policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. It contains 33 actions that will give our towns the tools and resources they need to become more viable and attractive places in which to live, work, socialise and run a business.

Action No. 3 of the new policy refers to the provision of town regeneration officers, who will be appointed in local authorities to drive the implementation of the town centre first policy. Town regeneration officers will be crucial in managing the implementation of the policy at a local level and ensuring the development and implementation of Town Centre First plans. The role of the town regeneration officers is clearly outlined in the policy. I was delighted to secure additional funding of €2 million for these posts in budget 2022. As a result, it is envisaged that a town regeneration officer will be appointed in local authority areas across the country.

A national Town Centre First office will drive the delivery of many of the recommendations outlined in the policy and support the co-ordinated roll-out of the policy by local authorities, town regeneration officers and town teams. My Department has agreed the structure of and funding for the national implementation office and the town regeneration officers with local authorities. The first step is the recruitment of the head of the national implementation office, which will be progressed shortly, and the recruitment of town regeneration officers will follow on from this in the coming weeks.

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