Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)

I also welcome my guest, Mr. Fitzpatrick. It is great to have him in the Public Gallery of the Chamber.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am well aware of the repair and lease scheme. It is an excellent scheme, but it is not the same as the croí cónaithe scheme with its city-style development. The repair and lease scheme provides funding of up to €80,000 per unit. It specifies that beneficiaries take tenancies from the county council. Croí cónaithe, on the other hand, is a more private sector-led development. It is a grant. It is not paid out of rent or anything like that, as the Minister of State knows. The croí cónaithe cities scheme is very good. We do not need to overcomplicate things. We need to stimulate development in every town and village across the country, not just in cities. We demonstrated that when we expanded the croí cónaithe scheme. The criteria were limiting it to a population of 600. We broadened those and now we can see the figures for ourselves. More than 12,000 people have applied. That is incredible and very positive. It is one of the positive measures that is being used to tackle the housing challenge.

I am asking for a scheme similar to the cities scheme to be created and tailored for areas of different population sizes - 20,000, 10,000 and 5,000 - to encourage the revitalisation and regeneration of our market towns. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State would work to advocate and support this request with the Minister. I have no doubt but that the Minister of State will do that. I thank him for coming to the Chamber to discuss the issue.