Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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11. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide an update on the roll-out of the towns first policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62464/22]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister of State for an update of the roll-out of the town centres first policy. Will he provide an update on it? I understand it has 33 actions. Will he tell us about the recruitment for town regeneration offices across our local authorities?

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The town centre first policy is a major cross-Government initiative that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. Key to this is the establishment of the national implementation office to assist in the delivery and implementation of the policy and to co-ordinate stakeholder engagement at a national level. This office is also responsible for supporting town regeneration officers in driving the implementation of the policy at a county level. The national implementation office has now been established and the head of the office appointed. Similarly, local authorities around the country are in the process of appointing town regeneration officers who will drive the development of town centre first plans at local level.

Central to the town centre first approach is the range of support funding in place and this includes the Department's town and village renewal scheme. Indeed, the Minister yesterday announced over €27 million in approvals under the scheme. This was in addition to the €115 million announced in November for 23 regeneration projects across rural towns under the Department's rural regeneration and development fund. These projects focus on combatting vacancy and dereliction by regenerating iconic town centre buildings such as old hotels, banks, schools and courthouses and are thus central to the town centre first approach.

The new oversight and advisory group for town centre first policy is also due to meet for the first time next week to ensure there is clear stakeholder visibility on the implementation of the policy. The Department remains committed to ensuring the continued roll out of the town centre first policy will work to deliver on the goal of revitalising rural towns and villages, as set out in Our Rural Future.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. Those town regeneration officers are going to the critical to the roll-out of this policy and will have a key role in ensuring all actions are implemented. Due to their being based in their own areas through the local authorities, they will have good knowledge of the situation on the ground and the towns in question. Is there a timeline for having all those officers in place and appointed?

On the Croí Cónaithe scheme, it was raised with me last week that you cannot get the €30,000 or €50,000 granted from this fund until the end of works. Would it be possible to look at that and perhaps at the possibility of providing that funding in stages? I do not know of too many builders, especially in rural areas, who would have that level of money up front to assist somebody who owns a property, or has bought one.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. I will give an update. We want the regeneration officers appointed as soon as possible. The money has been allocated so the authorities need to do this as soon as possible. We have nine appointed and three are expected to be in place early in the new year as well, but there are still a few to appoint.

I will have to liaise with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on Croí Cónaithe as it is not our scheme. I acknowledge it is envisaged the plans will cover the importance of place-making, town centre living and the social and economic purpose of the town. They should respond to emerging opportunities, such as those linked to remote working, climate action and digitalisation. The plans will also be central to addressing vacancy and dereliction. In addition to developing the plan, the funding can be used to cover any underlying analysis that may be undertaken to inform the development of the plan, capacity-building required locally for the town team or the initial delivery of some small interventions in the town, where the budget allows. This is the €100,000 allocation the 26 towns have got. The Deputy will be aware there were some in her constituency, namely Strokestown and Gort, I believe.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome that funding. This is an important policy, especially for towns in rural areas that really suffered after the 2008 crash and throughout that period. In many cases they are yet to recover from that. There is much vacancy and dereliction across many rural towns and I have no doubt this policy, once implemented fully, will make a difference but putting those regeneration officers in place and ensuring they are there as soon as possible will be key to that.

On the Croí Cónaithe towns fund, I appreciate it is under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, but it is mentioned in the policy. I was surprised because if one is looking at putting a €30,000 grant into a building, it would be unusual for a local builder, especially those in rural areas, to have that level of money to put in while the homeowner is waiting on the grant and will not get it until the end. I thought that was unusual and that giving the grant in stages should be looked at. The builder who is doing the work should obviously be verified, but I suggest it be looked at

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. The point is taken. I will take it back to the Minister. We in the Department are part of an oversight group together with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Irish Water, the Irish Local Development Network, ILDN, Irish Rural Link, Chambers Ireland and there is a local enterprise office representative and the National Transport Authority, NTA, as well. We are all around the table and can bring issues like that up where it is ostensibly the role of one Department but really it impacts policy as a whole. It is important we maintain pressure on the local authority to recruit the regeneration officers as soon as possible because we need them on the ground as soon as possible.