Regional Aid
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I agree and I want to pick up on that point around the local authorities. Although I am quick enough to criticise various local authorities on various occasions, I want to acknowledge the speed at which Louth County Council and the councils for the other three areas moved. That shows, as Deputy Nash said, the scourge that dereliction and vacancy are, and in a housing emergency. We are all aligned on the need for this and I am pleased that we should be in a position to designate the special regeneration areas by the end of March and get these schemes open for applications, I hope, by June.
That point about the low uptake of the existing scheme is fair. Some of it is related to publicising the scheme and getting the word out there. I will certainly reflect on how we can do more of that with the local authorities. In regard to some of the changes we have made around the over-the-shop criteria, 1915 was probably too restrictive and we are moving it to 1975. We are also providing the certainty that it will be in place until 2030 and, coupled with the five additional towns, I hope it will make a real difference. We will obviously all need to monitor this. I know the Deputy's county is the only one that has two towns in the scheme, Drogheda and Dundalk. I have been in Drogheda and I know the challenge of dereliction. I think this will make a big difference.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10