Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is welcome. The housing crisis affects the whole island and it is important we use every measure at our disposal to unlock one of the great social challenges of our time. The croí cónaithe scheme has been delivered specifically for land or building owners. It is a positive measure. It began for towns with populations of more than 600 people. Something I campaigned for when I was in Mayo County Council was that it be expanded to the whole countryside, to towns and villages, because we have cottages and old run-down buildings in all these different landscapes. That was positively received and the measure has enabled much more supply of housing in rural areas. It should be supported and complimented.

The croí cónaithe cities scheme, which is a totally different scheme and should perhaps have a different name because there is a lot of confusion about it, is specifically for cities. It is for 20 units or more delivered by a developer on a brownfield or derelict site to bring it back into use. This scheme is a good one, but it is limited to cities alone. There are towns like Castlebar, Ballina and Westport in Mayo where people used to live on the streets above the shops. There were vibrant town centres. We should not be limiting the croí cónaithe apartment scheme developments to cities. I ask that it be expanded to include towns with a population of more than 10,000 people.

I also ask that a sliding scale be created so that other market towns, the smaller market towns with populations of 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000, have some scheme or mechanism in place to stimulate and incentivise the regeneration of derelict and vacant properties. Currently, there are some schemes but not enough and it would be welcome if we could introduce the croí cónaithe cities incentive and support on a smaller scale for towns and on a smaller scale again for medium to smaller towns and perhaps even for developments of five units in villages. I look forward to the Minster of State's contribution and hope for his support because it could be one of the many solutions to unlock the housing crisis.