Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a report that was sought on what the future should be. It will not have a full comprehensive budget for the next ten years but it is pointing the direction. It will be a catalyst for further debate, of that there is no doubt. The city council is already allocating resources to some of the objectives contained in the report. The GPO is something we do need to address. It is interesting that when An Post vacated the GPO, about 1,000 people went out of the city centre. Some of what I said earlier about footfall leaving the city centre because of remote working and other things are having an impact on services. O’Connell Street is a key issue for us. This Oireachtas has had different views about how O’Connell Street should be developed. It has probably been overly delayed in coming to a consensus on that issue but if we can resolve the issues around the GPO, which will need a lot of expenditure to get it right and fit for modern facilities and so on, that could help enormously.

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