Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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68. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on the number of appointed full-time vacancy officers and town regeneration officers across local authorities; and the extent to which these roles will play in supporting the housing supply throughout the country. [22199/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Town Centre First, jointly developed by my Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development, sets out 33 actions which will provide a co-ordinated framework across established national policy objectives (in particular the National Planning Framework, Housing for All and Our Rural Future), to address the decline in the health of our towns and sets out actions to regenerate and revitalise them.

A key element of the Town Centre First policy will be the development of Town Centre First Plans. These Town Centre First Plans will assist towns in accessing a range of potential funding programmes available for town regeneration across a number of government departments and agencies. This work will be supported by a network of Local Authority Town Regeneration Officers, which will be funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development. I expect that the recruitment process for the Town Regeneration Officers will commence in the coming weeks.

Local Authorities are also continuing with the process of the delivery of the Vacant Homes Officer position on a full-time basis. Since 2018, my Department has provided funding to each local authority of €50,000 per annum which is to be increased by 20% to €60,000 per annum to support the work of a Vacant Homes Office and to facilitate the transition to full time Vacant Homes Officers. As this process is ongoing, I will have a full position from local authorities following the delivery timeframe of the end of June.