Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I was out in Dublin Central last evening with Councillor John Stephens, and it was a very pleasant evening indeed. There was good feedback and a lot of issues raised, of course, on the doorsteps.
Yes, approval has been given to the expected appointment of Robert Watt as CEO, seconded to the special purpose vehicle. The SPV is a key legal vehicle to ensure not only the implementation of the task force report, but also the regeneration of the core of Dublin city, particularly the O'Connell Street area more generally, because it will have powers and capacity. The Government will not be found wanting in supporting housing provision in the area. There is, as the Deputy knows, quite a range of properties in private sector hands at the moment. That is an evolving situation, but I would like to have a situation emerge where the State has greater capacity to revitalise key assets on O'Connell Street, in particular the GPO.
We are doing a lot of investment in Moore Street.
The last budget dramatically and significantly expanded the living in the city initiative. A lot more substantial grants are now available to support living above the shop and to support mixed-use development. We are also committed to unlocking under-used urban space for housing and enterprise and then pulling everything together under planning, housing, transport and heritage, so that we get a consistent, one approach to the development of the city.
Dublin City Council has begun the task of setting up the Dublin city task force special purpose vehicle. The CEO designate is Robert Watt. It is putting in staff with the required technical skills for an interim programme management unit. Essentially, all the building blocks are being put in place now to get moving on what is a ten-year integrated area strategy for Dublin city centre. It will tackle vacancy and dereliction and get real change and will transform the situation there. I am confident we can do it. As a Government, we are very committed to doing it. We believe the GPO will be a major flagship project at the core of Dublin city.
Various funding streams will facilitate the objectives both of the task force and the special purpose vehicle itself. Getting the special purpose vehicle together is taking a bit of time. In terms of gardaí, we have significantly increased their number. We have continued to do so and recruitment at Templemore is very positive at the moment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21