Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank all contributors to the debate. It has been hugely useful from our perspective and I will give a commitment on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, and Minister of State, Deputy Burke, that we will take on board the recommendations and work with the committee. We will work across the Houses of the Oireachtas to try to implement them. As I said, there is a significant crossover between what Government is doing. It may not always be perfect but we learn as we go along with much of our work.

Listening to the contributions, there were a couple of things that have not been referenced. We are not alone in grappling with this issue. It is a global problem. In Europe it is a huge problem because we are seeing huge parts of northern Italy and parts of Germany with significant depopulation of urban centres where the replacement rate of population is not happening. It is causing cities to go into further decline. We have a lot to learn from our European neighbours. We should reach out and do that. I was involved in European projects in the past around urban development and we have an awful lot to learn from other European experiences about how they do urban regeneration, in particular heritage-led regeneration. That is key to this.

The animation and activation of communities to be involved and be active participants in this needs to be central to it. We are all discussing largely what the Government is doing but local authorities are central to this. As outlined in the report, it is critically important that local authorities have the adequate suite of skills and resources to lead on this, be it architectural conservation officers and architects across a number of disciplines. Public participation and people’s involvement in having a say in how their urban centres evolve and develop is also important, as are the champions of our town centres, our independent retailers and those who are brave enough to take a decision to live in town centres and espouse how valuable it can be. That is really important.

Something that has not been referenced is our new national policy on architecture. It has to be architect led and architecture led. This document is another one of a guiding suite of documents the Government has produced that interlock all the objectives we are trying to achieve. The role of architecture in place-making, public participation and leading out quality urban spaces simply cannot be underestimated. It is vitally important.

A book that inspired me, with which Deputy Ó Broin may be familiar, is Paddy Shaffrey’s The Irish Town: an Approach to Survival. This, to me, was the Bible for urban regeneration. It was written in 1975. It could very easily be the town centres first policy. In it, Paddy Shaffrey outlines the manner and the way in which we need to look towards our built heritage as a way of engaging communities to be part of the story of the future of our towns. I urge Members, although there are probably not many copies available, to look at this phenomenal publication. It is visionary, given that it was written in 1975. It offers the opportunity to look back on what our towns were like in the past. They were stunning places and unique in the European context. That is what we need to look towards into the future.

I welcome this report and the interaction of the Members, which as Deputy Ó Broin said was a very collegiate and valuable piece of work that the Government will adhere to and take seriously. I thank everyone for this debate. It has been really useful.

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