Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and add my support to the motion.

Two aspects concern what we should do for towns centres that are struggling and our vision for their future. I live in Sligo where we have we are lucky because we have the Cranmore regeneration project. While it is slow, it is slow for a good reason because people want to make sure the mistakes made in other regeneration projects do not happen there. It is exciting to see an entire area in a small city like Sligo being regenerated, with all of the prospects it brings. That is not always possible in other small towns that are struggling with derelict shops. We need to draw up a menu of solutions to counteract serious problems that will pull towns and small cities in a situation from which they cannot be restored. The solutions must come from local people and councillors. We will not get into a dispute about councillors. I refer to solutions about parking. In Sligo there is free parking for the two weeks before Christmas, but the dilemma about revenue arises for the rest of the year. We had a scheme entitled, "I Love Sligo". Various shops signed up and vouchers entitled people to discounts if they signed up and shopped locally. It encouraged people into towns. Others have experimented with these ideas to keep business in place.

I am interested in looking at the bigger picture and having a vision for towns and cities in the future. Many are based on the way we did business in the past, but we have moved on from driving cattle through the main street. We are now doing a lot of business online. That means that we must reinvent our towns and cities because they were built at a time when there was no Internet and the idea of buying and selling online had not been thought of. As the figures for online activity will only increase, we must think about how we can reinvent towns as places where people will want to live part of their lives and not just see them as centres of commerce. They must be attractive places where people will want to meet their friends, enjoy their lives, go to the theatre and the cinema and perhaps cycle their bicycles. I am surprised Senator Ivana Bacik forgot this point.