Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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351. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the number of town regeneration officers in the State; the location by local authority of each officer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15913/25]

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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352. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the allocated budget to each local authority for the establishment and running of town regeneration officers; the number employed in each local authority; the roles of each employee, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15914/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 351 and 352 together.

Launched in 2022, the Town Centre First (TCF) Policy is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. TCF supports the Our Rural Future vision for a thriving rural Ireland by setting out a framework to facilitate and resource the regeneration of Irish towns to ensure they are vibrant, viable places to live, work, invest in, and visit.

Significant progress has been made since the launch of the policy towards achieving its objectives. Important developments include the establishment of a dedicated National TCF Office within the Local Government Management Agency which drives the actions under the policy, the establishment of Town Teams nationally, and the appointment of 26 local authority Town Regeneration Officers (TROs) who act as the central drivers to ensure the development and delivery of TCF at a local level.

TROs act as a key link between the local authority, towns and villages and their communities. They support the establishment and ongoing development work of Town Teams, providing technical, communications, administrative and project management support and helping towns to access available funding streams. TROs also form part of a national TCF network that supports knowledge development and sharing best practice at a national level. TROs also work closely with the multi-disciplinary technical teams in local authorities, including for example Vacant Homes Officers, building linkages with the Town Team and other stakeholders.

Details on the role of the TRO is set out in Appendix 6 of the Town Centre First policy which is available on my Department's website gov.ie - Town Centre First Policy

My Department has committed to providing annual funding of €100,000 (full-time) and €80,000 (part time) to cover the costs of employing a TRO in each eligible local authority on a 3 year fixed contract basis. There is a TRO employed in each of the local authorities set out in the following table: