Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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59. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will assign a taskforce to deal with vacancy rates in Clonmel town; the efforts being made to support small and medium-sized rural towns that are suffering huge levels of closure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22370/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to providing supports that will assist the key stakeholders in towns and villages to make their centres vibrant and vital centres of the community. Many Government Department are working to deliver on this commitment including the Department of Rural and Community Development, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage along with my own Department.

Through the 9 Regional Enterprise Plans as well as though the Enterprise Agencies of my Department we are providing a suite of measures to support businesses to start and grow in every part of Ireland including local towns and communities.

The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Tipperary provides their enterprise development services to any Business or Entrepreneur within their Local Authority area while the specific issue of vacancies in rural towns and villages is addressed by the relevant Local Authorities.

Through Enterprise Ireland, the Government has provided over €126m funding from the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, the Border Enterprise Development Fund, and the Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme to assist enterprise development and jobs growth across all regions. The Mid-West region, which incorporates Tipperary, has performed very well under these funds, securing over €16m in funding for 8 innovative enterprise focused projects. This funding has enabled significant collaborative and innovative regional projects to provide a timely impetus to job creation in these areas.?

The Town Centre First Policy, developed by the Department of Rural and Community Development, aims to create town centres that function as attractive locations for people to live, work, visit, and invest while also functioning as the service, social, cultural and recreational hub for the local community.

A key aim of both the Town Centre First and the Our Rural Future Policy is to address vacancy and dereliction in rural towns and villages across the country and ensuring that the policies and schemes in place directly tackle these issues. This complements other national policies such as Housing for All and the National Planning Framework which also address vacancy in rural towns and villages as well as supporting local communities.

Central to the Town Centre First approach is the range of support funding in place, including the Department of Rural and Community Development's Regeneration and Development Fund and Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Last November, that Department announced funding of €115m for regeneration projects across rural towns under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund for 2023. These projects include a focus on combating vacancy and dereliction by regenerating iconic town centre buildings such as old hotels, banks, schools, and courthouses.

In addition, in December 2022 €27m in funding was announced to combat dereliction and breathe new life into rural towns and villages under the 2022 Town and Village Renewal Scheme. In 2023, the schemes implemented by DRCD will continue to support the Town Centre First approach. This year’s Building Acquisition Measure will allow local authorities across the country to purchase up to three buildings up to a total grant value of €500,000. This call for applications closed on 28 April 2023.

My colleague Minister Heather Humphreys TD., expects to announce a further phase of the Town Centre First Plan initiative in the coming months.

The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, aims to deliver more compact and sustainable development, as envisaged under Project Ireland 2040. It does this by part-funding regeneration and rejuvenation projects in Ireland’s five cities and other large towns.

One of four funds set up under the National Development Plan 2018-2027, the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund supports the objectives of the National Planning Framework. With an initial allocation of 2 billion euro up to 2027, the fund has been extended to 2030 under the revised NDP 2021-2030.