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

I accept what the Deputy is saying. There is a fundamental issue with the urban landscape, and with high streets in particular. The world has changed and that needs to be taken on board in the modern planning of towns and cities. We need more residential in our towns and cities. I believe there is a future for retail but it will be a different kind of retail than the multi-stores we had in city and town centres in the past. Town and city planners perhaps need to engage more proactively on this. From a Government perspective we want to develop initiatives that would incentivise more residential and public realm investments, which some towns have been doing through rural development funds or the URDF. That is where we have to go.

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