Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, give this motion a cautious welcome. I welcome the introduction of outdoor seating areas. It is one of the very few benefits that came from Covid. It was a contentious issue for many years and in many towns, with considerations around licence fees, the charges and the costs involved. I welcome that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is going to waive those charges. We need to put this into proper legislation, but it needs to be done sensitively. It has worked well in many areas, but it needs to be policed properly as well. Tidy Towns, chambers of commerce and other groups have welcomed it, but when there are areas of dereliction in the town right next door to or beside the outdoor seating areas, it just does not look right. That is a curse in many towns. Earlier speakers, including Deputy Daly, mentioned bigger supermarkets moving out of towns. Clonmel, the vale of honey, is a case in point. The centre of the town is falling down around us and there are supermarkets on each corner. That is of no benefit to the town. I actually believe that in some cases sweet deals were done in planning and rates deals and everything else. The ordinary hardworking businesspeople of the town embraced the introduction of outdoor seating and dining, but they are still the same businesses really, with extra staff and extra seating. You can be outside on a fine day, but you have to go in on a wet day, so it is important we try to nourish those businesses.

The issue of derelict and vacant shop fronts was raised earlier, as were the grant aids and supports required. We have been talking about it for ten years but it is not happening. The Croí Cónaithe scheme and other schemes have been introduced, but between the Main Guard and the West Gate in Clonmel, there are 19 or 20 empty semi-derelict shops. That is demoralising for the business owners beside them, who are paying their rates and trying to do business, and people who have installed outdoor furniture for food outlets and that.

It is not so much the pubs. The pubs are struggling anyway. Struggling is the word to describe it. Covid has wrecked them, as bad and all as they were, and there is also the folly of the plan to open the pubs all night. The Taoiseach talks about full employment, yet most companies are struggling to get staff. If there are people in pubs until 5 and 6 in the morning, they are not going to be fit for work or in any state for work. This is just another fantasy dream the Government has for the capital city. We think it will be like other capital cities in Europe, but it not going to be like that. We have to give that a very wide berth. There is also an issue with the labelling, as I have said previously.

Getting back to this motion, I welcome it. We should look at things in the round, including the streetscape, the buildings that are there and the dereliction. It is not much good having nice ornate chairs and tables and maybe glass panels around them for shelter and overhead covers when there is a derelict or semi-derelict building beside it. That has been going on for decades. For some places the issue has emerged in recent years, but it has been going in others for decades. We need to look at this issue in the context of the overall streetscape. We need to look at the bad planning that was done in America and England that we copied here, in putting all our supermarkets and big chains outside the town centre. It has been a disaster in Clonmel. Tipperary town is the same. It has been really badly affected. We have a lovely town in Cathair Dún Iascaigh, or Cahir, where we have a lot of furniture outside. I compliment the business premises there, the wonderful hotel there, Tidy Towns and all the different groups that are working as part of Cahir Development Association to make the town the welcoming place that it is. In Cashel, there has been huge investment in the Palace Hotel and the tourists have been flocking to it since the visit of the British royal family last year. It has really been marketed well. There are good businesses there and it is welcome that is getting great reviews.

However, we must not forget the other towns that are not in such a privileged situation. We have to tackle the dereliction of sites, some of which are long-standing derelict sites, in the towns and up and down the streets. We must try to support the hard-pressed working ratepayers who pay staff, insurance, tax, light, heat and everything else, and continue to provide employment daily. They must be supported. They are not getting any meaningful supports. I have asked previously for a task force for the likes of Clonmel, where we have a huge number of abandoned sites, shopping centres and that, in the middle of the town. Aldi or Lidl recently put up a spanking new premises. They are welcome to do that, but perhaps they would have been better off going into the empty Superquinn site that the late, great former Senator, Feargal Quinn, designed and built. That lifted the town some decades ago. Now it needs to be lifted again.

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