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

There are several questions to address. Regarding the vacant homes officers, this is a dedicated position in local authorities and is critically important.

It is critically important local authorities use that resource wisely.

It is important, too, that every local authority should have a conservation officer. We are talking here about a lot of 18th century or 19th century properties and there is a need for good guidance and advice to property owners in terms of renovation. It is important there is a network of conservation officers throughout the country who are supporting this regeneration. That is something that should be stressed to all local authorities and something we are doing.

I am familiar with the CPO, particularly in Louth County Council. Deputy O'Dowd is correct that some local authorities are better than others and Louth has been very good. It has made good use of the CPO powers. I encourage all local authorities to do the same. It is a considerable power they have to bring properties back into productive use. We will certainly encourage that.

We will certainly keep under review the entire process we have under pathway 4. The opportunity exists under repair and lease for property owners to do up a second property . That should be considered as well. We have that consistently under review.

In terms of the specific role, there is a vacant homes unit in the Department. The Minister of State, Deputy Burke, will be setting up a town centre first unit as well. A synergy of actions is taking place now that we believe is unprecedented in terms of turning around the fortunes of our urban centres and bringing in many of these thousands of properties we see that could be reused.

The Department also has a national architecture policy. We are also bringing out guidance on thermal comfort, which is the energy retrofitting of traditional buildings in urban centres. This will be useful guidance because the modern methods of thermal retrofitting may not be appropriate for older buildings.

All in all, we have a suite of policies, plans and actions costed and funded to support a significant regeneration throughout the country.

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