Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Funding of €409 million has been approved for 215 projects. We have to get the money spent. There is no doubt that there have been delays due to different issues. That is why we now have category 2 funding. It means that people can have all their plans made and planning permission received. They can apply for category 2 funding to get the project ready and then they can apply for category 1 funding to complete it. When they receive the money they should be ready to press the button and go.

There is a good bit of joined-up thinking with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, including between the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and me, on the town centre first policy. The two Departments work well because we have the RRDF and the URDF. We need to work with the local authorities to get that joined-up thinking. We have appointed town centre first officers in the local authorities who work with businesses and communities to also get a joined-up approach. A good deal of investment has gone in. It is paying dividends and I want to see more of it happening and more projects delivered as quickly as possible.

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