Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I very much welcome all the work that the Department is doing in town and village renewal to date but also that the Minister plans to have completed in 2023.

I am wondering about the co-ordination between the Department and the local authorities because I have come across one issue recently in relation to the vacant property grant where an application was submitted over four months ago and still the local authority had not signed off on it. Is there any co-ordination to ensure that there are checks and balances so that there are not any additional hurdles for the people who want to get on, develop and get renewal into their village or town?

The other issue, which I raised previously with the Tánaiste and, indeed, with the Taoiseach, is that in some areas the reason there has been no investment over a long number of years in a particular property is because of title problems. I have suggested that local authorities would engage with the property owners about using the compulsory purchase order system-----

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