Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. He mentioned the importance of investing in the future. Critical to that is investment in our city centres. Will he give an update on the task force for Cork city?

The programme for Government states that the model applied to the Dublin city task force will also be applied to Cork and will happen shortly. I hope this task force will deal with such strategic issues as improved transportation connectivity to Cork city, addressing issues around dereliction, vacancy and under-utilisation of buildings, investment in our public realm or streetscape, making the city a more attractive place to be and, critically from a day-to-day point of view, safety in our city centre and improved visibility of gardaí. I commend Cork City Council and Cork Business Association on their initiative of introducing wardens to the city centre recently. It was welcome. I hope the Taoiseach will give an update on when the Cork city task force will move on.

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