Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister again for her response. I commend her and her Department on their commitment to rural development. I applaud the positive impact under the town and village renewal scheme and the Town Centre First policy. Certainly, as Deputy Ring outlined, the implementation on the ground through local authorities has been disappointing to a degree. Castlebar historic core was allocated more than €11 million under the URDF by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We would like to see other URDF projects implemented and started much more quickly. Through the Department of Rural and Community Development, we should have a special delivery team or project team to ensure that they work on a collaborative basis with the local authorities in order that they can move through the decision-making process, be it through procurement, design, tender and construction, and achieve swifter delivery. The Department is allocating the money. I am sure the frustration from the Minister's side is that they are not delivering quickly enough. Will the Department issue a special delivery team for the projects?

See this speech in context