Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 May 2024
8. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if consideration would be given for larger local authorities such as Cork County Council to make additional submissions to the town and village renewal scheme to account for the larger population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20404/24]
View answer18. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development for an update on her Department’s plans to address dereliction and vacancy in rural towns and villages; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20943/24]
View answer43. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development for an update on her Department's efforts to bring more vacant buildings into use in towns and villages; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20571/24]
View answer44. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development how Carlow is benefiting from the 2023 town and village renewal scheme. [20607/24]
View answerQuestion No. 8 is in the name of Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan but it is grouped with one of Deputy Ó Laoghaire's questions if he wants to proceed with Question No. 18.
It is a matter we return to again and again. We had a fruitful discussion in the Oireachtas committee recently regarding dereliction. It frustrates people enormously and it has a huge impact on morale in towns and villages, and indeed in city centre areas as well, when they see dereliction, particularly at a time when there is such great housing need. I know it falls between two Departments but a more aggressive approach is needed. Some local authorities have taken that on but it needs to be rolled out across the board.
I propose to take Question Nos. 8, 18, 43 and 44 together.
Our Rural Future sets out this Government’s vision for the future of rural Ireland. Central to this vision is the importance of supporting the regeneration and development of rural towns and villages as vibrant and thriving rural places. This theme is further supported by the town centre first policy which includes a central focus on helping local communities to address challenges such as vacancy and dereliction in their own towns and villages. In support of these aims, my Department implements a range of schemes and supports which have seen record levels of investment in recent years. For example, the town and village renewal scheme was launched in 2016, and since then more than €177 million has been allocated to almost 1,800 projects. The 2023 scheme placed particular emphasis on projects that bring economic and social vibrancy to town centres and which will encourage more people into town and village centres to live, work, shop and socialise. At the end of April, I was delighted to confirm details of the 82 projects that were successful in being awarded funding under the 2023 scheme. In total, €20.4 million has now been allocated to these projects, and I look forward to seeing all the successful projects coming to fruition over the coming years. As with previous years, the challenge of vacancy in town centres featured heavily in the applications under the 2023 scheme.
The county of Cork is fortunate to have two local authorities, and I am delighted to confirm that the county has again fared well under the recent announcement of town and village renewal scheme funding. Since the inception of the scheme, Cork County Council has been allocated funding of more than €7.9 million. The most recent announcement saw Cork County Council allocated €590,000 for four projects. Cork City Council has been allocated funding of more than €1.5 million since it became eligible for the scheme in 2019. It was awarded €566,000 in the most recent announcement for four projects. This means that at the end of April I was able to allocate in excess of €1.15 million to projects in County Cork under the town and village renewal scheme.
Turning now to Carlow, under the 2023 scheme, it has been allocated more than €832,000 in funding for four projects in the county. This funding will see important projects funded in Carrigduff, Clonegal, St. Mullins and Tullow.
I wish all the successful projects under this year’s town and village renewal scheme the very best of luck as they move to the implementation stage. I have been fortunate to have seen at first hand many brilliant examples of completed town and village renewal projects over recent years and I can say with confidence that the funding is making a real impact on the ground. Of course, there are other schemes and supports my Department administers that also work to support rural communities in tackling challenges related to vacancy and dereliction.
Implementation of the Government’s town centre first policy is progressing well and we are now seeing very real momentum in this regard at local level. I am happy my Department continues to fund the 26 town regeneration officers who are now working with local communities all across rural Ireland. In addition, last February I launched a new €4.5 million suite of town centre first supports which will help local town teams develop and put in place plans for their own towns. These plans are vital in supporting communities to avail of the range of funding available from my Department and, indeed, from across Government.
The building acquisition measure is another funding source which has proved very beneficial to towns in addressing the challenges of vacancy and dereliction in recent years. In both 2022 and 2023, I made funding available under this measure to local authorities to facilitate the purchase of vacant or derelict buildings for use as multipurpose community spaces. To date, €10.7 million has been provided to support local authorities to purchase 53 vacant and derelict buildings, and I am very happy with how this new funding approach has worked so far. This initiative will see vacant properties such as old bank buildings, courthouses, cinemas and Garda stations redeveloped as community facilities throughout rural Ireland.
Similarly, the rural regeneration and development fund provides very significant levels of funding for the development and construction of capital projects in towns and villages across rural Ireland. The focus of this fund is also very much aligned with the goals of Our Rural Future and the town centre first policy, with town regeneration and vacancy and dereliction issues very much to the forefront. To date, €414 million has been invested under the rural regeneration and development fund to support 215 projects. The fifth call for category 1 projects under the fund closed earlier this year, and the assessment process is now well under way. I am very encouraged by the fact the applications received in the most recent call have drawn heavily on the work of the town centre regeneration officers and the town centre first plans which my Department has funded. Indeed, it is this type of integration and joined-up thinking between the various supports offered by my Department which will deliver the best results for our rural towns and villages. I expect to be in a position to announce the successful projects under the fund in the coming weeks.
I and my Department remain committed to seeing a real impact for our rural towns and villages through the implementation of both the Our Rural Future and town centre first policies. I will continue to ensure the many funding schemes within my Department help to empower communities to develop and implement fantastic and innovative projects which will make their towns better places in which to live, work, visit and invest.
I welcome what the Minister said but there is a need for local authorities to be more ambitious again. The Minister has a role in that but there is also a role for local authorities. As I said, some local authorities have taken up the mantle. While taking ownership of buildings and returning them to community use is important, part of this is also a need to take ownership of buildings and restore them to dwellings and other uses, not just community use. The scheme the Minister spoke about is welcome. I am not criticising it but we need to go further in that regard. We are in the middle of a housing crisis and people walk through our towns, cities and villages and see buildings that are derelict and vacant and it is very frustrating. In my constituency, I think of the historic spine of the city up North and South Main Street, Shandon Street, Barrack Street and the adjoining areas, an area of the city that is 800 or 900 years old. The amount of dereliction there is a huge blight on the area, an area which otherwise has great potential. Part of that needs to be, as well as community and commercial use, bringing families back into the town and city centres. Local authorities can and should do more.
I thank the Minister for her reply. I agree with the previous speaker, broadly. No Department is an island and this is a multi-Department issue with dereliction in our towns and villages. I commend the Ministers on their significant work and investment across the country, including in my constituency, Dublin Fingal, as it currently exists. I had the privilege of not that long ago attending with the Ministers the opening of a building in Lusk, which is an illustration of the effectiveness of the town and village renewal scheme. As the previous speaker alluded to, some local authorities are very good at it and some are not. My constituency is the largest rural constituency in Dublin. Parts of the constituency need further attention and investment. I encourage the Minister and her Department to have a conversation with Fingal County Council about numerous other rural towns in the north and west of the constituency.
I agree. I go through towns, see vacant and derelict buildings and ask why we are not doing something with these. They are a resource now because they are serviced, they have electricity, sewerage and water. We have been doing a lot of work with local authorities trying to get more people back living in the centre of towns. I am a great supporter of that because I believe there are huge opportunities. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has been doing a huge amount of work. The vacant home refurbishment grant of up to €70,000 is available. There is huge demand for that scheme. It costs a bit extra to do up a town centre property. Sometimes you meet problems you certainly would not meet on a new build. That is why that is available - to help them. It is great, particularly when you drive through the country, to see old houses that were derelict and have now become wonderful new properties that families are moving into. The Department of housing also has vacant homes officers in local authorities who lead on other schemes like the repair and lease scheme and the buy and renew scheme. Some local authorities have used those schemes to great effect. The local authority in Waterford in particular has shown what can be achieved through those schemes. There is a learning here. Some local authorities are great, others are not as good. I say, get them all in the room and let them all tell you what they are doing. It is no harm. It perhaps creates a bit of competition. They should learn from their colleagues because we want to make all of our towns and villages better places in which to work and live.
The Department of housing is also doing a lot of work in larger towns and cities through the urban regeneration fund and looking at how to combat vacancy and dereliction. My focus in my Department is on repurposing buildings for remote work, enterprise centres and community centres. That has always been my focus. The Department of housing is looking at getting more people into towns. I am trying to increase footfall with digital hubs and enterprise centres. More people are coming into those now. That is good for towns because what brings vibrancy to towns is people. We need people, whether living or working, in our towns. That is what makes the difference.
That is precisely right. That is what a lot of the strategy needs to be. Retail is part of the solution but we also need families in our town centres. The two drive each other. I welcome the funding. We discussed it last week with the Heritage Council, which, along with several other stakeholders, was before the Oireachtas committee on the issue of dereliction. One area that got funding was the town of Passage West in my constituency, which is close to Cork city. It highlights another power local authorities have. While it is welcome that investment is happening there in planning, Passage West is an historic town. It was effectively the original port of Cork. There is a great maritime tradition, but it is also an area that has not reached its full potential, and I think it can. There is an 8-acre site in the middle of town - the old docks - that is in private ownership. One of the mechanisms at the disposal of local authorities is their planning power. If they do not possess something, they can create master plans for future use and dictate what the future use of a site will be upon its next sale. Sometimes, that power is not used. The docklands site in Passage West in particular is the key to opening up the town onto the water, which will be a huge asset if it can happen.
I completely agree with what the Minister said. As she well knows, vibrant communities have people living in the middle of them. Especially in northern Fingal, the success of the national broadband project has meant that more and more people have the capacity to work from home, particularly in a post-Covid environment. Any public representative knows there are just as many people at home in the middle of the afternoon as in the evenings when we would have traditionally canvassed. That is because of the roll-out of broadband and the increasing number of people moving to our rural communities. A key and important aspect of the success of a community is turning vacancy into homes and other community facilities, whether retail or other. I commend the Minister and her Department on the work being done. My only comment is, like the Minister, there are certain properties when you drive or walk by them you ask why they are still vacant, because these grants have been around for a while. I commend the Minister's Department and the Department of housing on the work it does with local authorities. I am just looking for more.
Fingal has got €2.7 million since 2016 under the town and village renewal scheme. Cork city got €1.5 million and Cork county got €7.9 million. There has been considerable investment in both counties. The town and village renewal scheme provides grants of up to €500,000 for large-scale projects. If you need more funding for bigger projects, there is the rural regeneration fund. The town centre first officers are making a difference, as is giving extra funding to town teams, which are local people. Local people know what towns need. They have a wealth of local knowledge as to who owns which property and how it can be acquired or could be sold. We have given them extra money to support them to increase their capacity. They are making a difference. Town centre first officers are working well across local authorities. I was in Urlingford only last week. I opened a new hub there. It is a former bank building. I find I am going to more and more old banks because banks are closing. This is the world we live in. We have to repurpose them and find other uses for them. It is now a remote working hub. It is on the main road from Limerick to Dublin. You can drop off there, take a break and do some remote work. That is the big selling point. It is off the main motorway.
