Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ennis, like other market towns in Clare and market towns all over the country, has streets full of fine old buildings where there is a retail unit at ground level. In many but not all cases, they are vacant over ground level whereas, a century ago, there were families living in those. I do not underestimate the difficulty of converting those back into residential use, given there are regulations and issues around financing, but it would offer many benefits, not just in housing but also for the environment, for society and so on. For the Venice Biennale in 2018, we sent out a project looking at market towns and how to reinvigorate them. Will the Taoiseach consider a pilot project to bring properties like that back into residential use in Ennis and right across the country?

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