Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that welcome update. I would love to get more information about the building acquisition measure she has announced and which is so constructive and positive. I know Dún Laoghaire seems like a Dublin town, but it is very much a community town with considerable vacancy and dereliction. Through Digital Dún Laoghaire and with the council, we are trying to develop the opportunity for remote working to try to keep the pressure off public transport and reduce the number of people going into the city centre so that they can have a better quality of life, but crucially to rejuvenate one of Ireland's oldest towns. We have 160 shopfronts all the way along the main street. Many of those are vacant either at ground level or above shop level. There are significant opportunities through the building acquisition measure for the council to acquire some of those and turn them into either remote working or community activity centres and to restore the badly needed footfall on the main street in Dún Laoghaire. I ask the Minister to give us more information about the building acquisition measure.

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