Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State.

11 o’clock

Much work is happening in towns and villages where new footpaths and public areas and so forth are being provided, which is all welcome and positive. People cannot live on footpaths or in regenerated areas; they need homes in which to live. Many of the houses and old buildings in the towns are privately owned. While the Croí Cónaithe scheme certainly helps, it does not go anywhere near the distance it needs to go to get many of these buildings regenerated and brought back to life. The reason is that for most people who own them, those buildings are more of a liability than an asset. It might be an old house in a town with big thick stone walls and rooms the size of wardrobes that was built 100 years ago. To go inside to try to do something with it would probably cost far more than it would to knock it down and build a new building. That is the reality of it and that is why the Croí Cónaithe scheme, as welcome as it, does not go nearly far enough to be able to create that kind of regeneration. In some cases, I suggest we need to see local authorities trying to purchase some of these buildings to regenerate them back into housing stock or for public and community use.

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