Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his recent appointment. I have not sat here in the Chamber with him for a number of years, and he and I both know how we feel and think about things.

I recently met the owners of property in the centre of Drogheda. They are local people who own substantial levels of property. They were aware of the exemptions but they felt they did not have enough knowledge, which is why I met them to further their proposals. There were concerns, appropriately and properly, about fire safety and so on, and I reiterate what I said about how there can be no issue of compromise with regard to health and safety. We need a proactive team, whether that is regionally or nationally based, to advise property owners as to what the exemptions are and how they could plan and design the properties. They are worried about the cost of consultancies and so on, and it might be necessary to grant aid to people to meet certain additional costs such as fire safety precautions or whatever they are.

These people would like to go ahead and have those premises occupied. They provide a service in the centre of town. One hundred years ago, as we all know, all our towns were filled with families and they were lively places at night and during the day, whereas now they are empty and dead. I appreciate the Minister of State's question. Will he consider setting up a unit in the Department, perhaps through chambers of commerce and so on, to get a plan together and provide the professional advice that is essential to these people to encourage them further?

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