David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I hope that the process is speeded up in the way the Minister of State describes. I wish her well in that regard and welcome that Limerick City Council approved the construction of 79 new houses. She also mentioned an implementation plan. I support local consultation but I think we can agree that extensive consultation has already taken place with the relevant agencies. The problem is that the agencies have not fulfilled their mandate. I cannot hold the Minister of State responsible for that because previous Governments were to blame. Many of the residents with whom our public representatives have spoken genuinely fear that if the regeneration programme is subsumed into local government it will make matters worse rather than speed them up. It is not clear to us what effect the programme will have once it comes under the remit of local government. I listened to what the Minister of State had to say but I must also heed our public representatives on the ground in Limerick when they relay to us the concerns of residents. While I hope she is correct in her prediction that it will speed up the process, I am still minded to press the amendment because of our genuine concerns about the agencies being subsumed into the local authority.

On the broader issue of regeneration, if the Government was to introduce some form of stimulus in the short to medium term an investment in regeneration and retrofitting would get people back to work and bring social and economic dividends. This is an area in which our limited resources would be well spent in terms of stimulating the economy and any initiative in this regard would get the full support of my party.