Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)

I am bringing up an issue that I have mentioned in the House a good few times. It is about allowing people to come in to shop in small towns and villages, especially in rural areas, and be able to park there. In the past, I have brought up the example of Navan quite a lot because of the huge increase in population and all the works that are being done, but I will actually talk about Athboy today. It is a lovely town in County Meath with just under 3,000 people living there. It has a public realm strategy that was announced in 2021. It says the aim of the mission statement is to:

Improve the public realm of Athboy for all users through enhancing pedestrian movement, exploring new connections and linking amenity spaces. In addition the street scene should be enhanced by improving the layout, pedestrian crossings and car parking along with protecting the existing trees and vegetation.

I was reading my local newspaper, the Meath Chronicle, the other day and I saw a local councillor had brought up just how difficult it is for people to come into the town and park and the worry that people will leave and go somewhere else or shop online. We are all about a dual shopping process of shopping online but you also need to be able to pull up outside where you need to go, whether it is the butchers, the dry cleaners or a café. There is a beautiful café there, Cafe Sabrosa , there is McElhinneys for Men, Doreen's Home Bakery and stuff that you cannot buy online. You just go and experience it in Athboy. There is a beautiful gift shop there as well.

The lack of car parking facilities will kill local businesses there. It is a very important time in the run-up to Christmas. The pre-Christmas period is crucial for shops in the town. Shoppers are driving up and down the street trying to get spaces. They cannot and they then either just go home or drive on to somewhere else. We are losing business in this town and many other towns.When we are developing our public realm strategies and improving landscapes in towns, we need to accommodate age-friendly and disabled parking and parking in general in order that people can still visit their local towns and do a bit of shopping. I would like this matter to be raised again, if possible.