Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. This is the first time that I think I have got an opportunity to congratulate him and wish him well in his role. I served with him for approximately four years on the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. I know only too well how good an operator he is and I have no doubt that he will be an excellent Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Having said that, I do not envy him because he is facing into difficult years, especially in light of the amount of money that had to be put aside for the pandemic payments, etc.

To continue on from Senator Blaney's contribution on marinas around the west coast, anyone who has a boat that he or she wants to moor along the west coast for the winter would have to go to Kilrush in County Clare. I do not think there are any marinas north of Kilrush. I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Blaney in that regard.

I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on the review of the capital expenditure plan. Things have changed greatly since the plan was first put in place several years ago. Several speakers have alluded to the situation where many people are now working remotely from home and more people, we presume, will be able to work from remote areas in the future, especially as broadband infrastructure is put in place. That will be an objective and there is much to be gained from it. We all like to see the GAA progressing in counties, but several counties are winning everything in both codes at present. Having people working remotely, however, will help many counties because it will bring people into places where they were not before.

As several Senators stated, we have great problems at local authority level with one-off rural housing. This matter must be examined because there is a great need in this regard. I ask that the Minister consider giving some sort of powers to local authority members to allow them to raise planning issues at local authority level. It has gone beyond the ridiculous when a councillor cannot raise an issue concerning planning at a council meeting. Where does accountability come into things? Where does transparency come in? If councillors have put a planning framework in place, then surely they should be able to ask questions about the transparency and accountability of that plan. It would be only right and fitting for councillors at certain times of the year to be able to raise issues regarding how such a plan is progressing and where it currently stands.

There is a great need to look after our town centres and to put incentives in place to do that. There is no other way to achieve that objective. The Minister is aware that such financial incentives and grants were put in place several years previously and money was spent when such schemes existed. I remember in former Minister Pádraig Flynn's time that there was an incentive to look after our towns. I forget the name of the scheme now. A resort initiative was then put in place by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny and I think there was also another scheme in this context. We saw, however, when those schemes were created that money was targeted and put into those locations concerned. The only problem I saw with those initiatives was that proper plans were not put in place first. There was no overall planning. It was all ad hocactivity done piecemeal, which was not to the best advantage of those schemes.

The schemes in question allowed hotels to be built where there would otherwise have been none.Multi-storey car parks were built. Housing was built; perhaps some of it was built in the wrong areas. Those schemes built those pieces of infrastructure throughout the country. Therefore, while some people might say that they do not work, they certainly work when it comes to targeting investment into some areas. While the urban renewal schemes are great with regard to putting up or doing up public buildings or putting in place public areas, they alone will not bring private and capital investment into areas. I believe it will have to be incentivised. The Minister should look at that with regard to this plan. It will and does work. An overall plan should be put in place, however. It was the one piece missing out of all the other schemes that were put in place previously. Much could be learned from them. It will work, however, and I hope the Minister will look at it.