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

The towns recently announced - Bagenalstown, County Carlow, was mentioned - will all get funding of €30,000 to work on their plans, and they can also get money to support their town teams and build capacity within communities. You have to encourage people to become engaged, speak up, make their views known and get the applications in.

My focus is on utilising the buildings that are not really suitable for housing but that can be converted for community use. Under the buildings acquisition measure, which is a new measure I introduced, we gave funding to the local authorities to purchase buildings that they identify, with local groups, as buildings that could be converted for community use. In some cases, as we know, these buildings are former bank buildings. Many of these were converted into remote working hubs or enterprise spaces. In other cases, the relevant building might be an old primary school or Garda station, and this could become home to the local men's shed or another community group. This is where my focus is.

Other things are happening. In this regard, reference was made to houses. Up to €70,000 is available through the vacant homes refurbishment grant. There is considerable demand for this. It is the responsibility of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. When driving around, I see houses being renovated that were vacant, falling down or not finished. People will be moving into them. This breathes new life into areas and it is wonderful to see. The Department of housing also has vacant homes officers in the local authorities and they are leading on other schemes, such as the repair-and-lease scheme and, of course, the buy-and-renew scheme. Some local authorities have used these schemes to great effect. The local authorities, particularly that in Waterford, have really shown what can be achieved through the schemes. Some local authorities are very good at doing some things while others need a bit more support and may need a little more encouragement. They can be given the example of Waterford.

The Department of housing is also doing a lot of work in the larger towns and cities through the urban regeneration fund and it is considering how we can combat vacancy and dereliction. There are several good examples around the country in this regard. I was in Patrickswell, County Limerick, only last Wednesday and I opened a beautiful new community centre there. It was formerly a vacant site in the heart of the village. The people knew what they wanted and were able to work with the local authority to get the application in, and we were able to fund it.

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