Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government is absolutely committed to taking a holistic approach to rejuvenating Dublin city centre. We appointed a task force on 7 May 2024 to help the city centre to thrive as an attractive and safe city. Led by the Department of the Taoiseach, the task force held its first meeting on 21 May and has been asked to deliver its recommendations for consideration by the Government within 12 weeks. The task force is led by an independent chair, Mr. David McRedmond, chief executive officer of An Post, and its work is being supported by Dublin City Council, which is a really important player here.

Dublin City Council has lead responsibility for the promotion of economic development in Dublin city centre, but it works with a range of partners across all levels of government. Of course national policies have an impact on business in our capital city. My Department and its agencies, including Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the local enterprise offices, are all committed to fostering innovation, supporting business growth and attracting investment right across the country, including here in our capital city. My Department is acutely aware of the pressures on businesses over recent years with Covid restrictions, the energy crisis and the increased cost of doing business. The Government set up emergency support schemes to get cash to businesses that needed it quickly. These included the temporary business energy support scheme during Covid and, most recently, the increased cost of business, ICOB, scheme. In May, the ICOB scheme was extended for an additional 14 days and a second payment was announced for the retail and hospitality sectors. As of 9 July, there were 8,755 registrations made to Dublin City Council for the ICOB scheme and 85% of businesses that registered with Dublin City Council have now received a payment. These measures were part of a package agreed by the Government to help to reduce costs for SMEs in Dublin and across the country. There were a number of initiatives rolled out in that.

The Government is committed to building stronger, safer communities, and that absolutely includes our capital city. Budget 2024 provided the highest ever allocation to An Garda Síochána, a 25% increase since 2020 to over €2.35 billion. The Deputy has touched on several policy areas which unfortunately are beyond my Department’s remit but I can assure him that there is cross-departmental work happening and that partners across government will continue to support efforts to make Dublin city centre an even more attractive place to do business, live, work and visit.

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