Regulations issued by the Private Security Authority (PSA) are not a matter for my Department.  The PSA is an independent body and comes under the aegis of the Department of Justice.

I am advised by the PSA that checks for compliance with the Security ERO are part of its inspection regime. Contractors found to be in breach of the ERO by the PSA face a range of sanctions up to and including the revocation of their licence.

On 3 August 2022, the former Minister of State for Employment Affairs, Business and Retail announced an intention to issue an Order to give effect to a statutory recommendation of the Labour Court concerning minimum rates of remuneration and other terms and conditions in the Security Sector. The Order was to apply from 29 August 2022.

On 24 August 2022, my Department was informed that High Court had granted an injunction prohibiting the commencement of the proposed Statutory Instrument giving effect to the new Employment Regulation Order for the Security Industry.

At this moment in time the Order cannot be proceeded with. The matter is before the courts.

As the new ERO is not currently in force, compliance with its proposed provisions do not form part of the PSA licensing and inspection regime. I have been advised by the PSA that when a new ERO is introduced they will ensure that employers in the security industry comply with its contents.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 56, 72, 83, 102 and 114 together.

The town centre first policy is a major, cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. It supports the vision in Our Rural Future for a thriving rural Ireland, which is integral to our national economic, social, cultural and environmental well-being and development.

My Department co-chairs the national oversight and advisory group for the policy with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. This group seeks to oversee the delivery of the policy and ensure there is clear stakeholder visibility in respect of implementation. The group met for the first time in December and is due to meet again this month. The establishment of the national implementation office is key to the success of the policy. The office supports town regeneration officers in driving implementation at a local level and co-ordinates stakeholder engagement. This structure has now been put in place within the Local Government Management Agency and my officials are in ongoing contact with the national office.

A key aim of both the town centre first and Our Rural Future policies is addressing vacancy and dereliction in rural towns and villages and ensuring the policies and schemes in place directly address and tackle these issues. This complements other national policies such as Housing for All and the national planning framework, which also aim to tackle 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 my Department’s rural regeneration and development fund and the town and village renewal scheme. Last November, I announced funding of €115 million for regeneration projects in rural towns under my Department's 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. Similarly, last December, I announced €27 million in funding 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 my Department will continue to support the town centre first approach and prioritise addressing vacancy and dereliction. For example, last month I launched the 2023 building acquisition measure, which will allow local authorities to purchase up to three buildings up to a total grant value of €500,000. This call for applications is open and local authorities have until 28 April to submit applications. The scheme priorities are reviewed at the end of each scheme year and the review process for the 2023 town and village renewal scheme is currently at an advanced stage. I intend to launch the 2023 scheme in June of this year and local community groups can then submit their proposals through their local authority for funding under the scheme.

My Department remains committed to the success of the town centre first policy to deliver on the goal of revitalising rural towns and villages as set out in Our Rural Future.

I welcome the Minister's response. I may be a city person who travels through towns and villages only when going on a weekend trip or visiting family, but there undoubtedly is a great deal of dereliction, with many unoccupied buildings. It can be shocking at times to pass through some of the smaller villages and to see the extent of, first, the housing crisis but also the image the dereliction presents.

On the issue of staffing, the Minister stated in October, "A key function of these Officers will be the development of Town Centre First Plans at local level." She described the recruitment of further staff as "well advanced". Will she provide an update on that? How many staff have been recruited to deliver this at local level? She might also comment on the implementation and evaluation of the policy.

I would again join with colleagues here in welcoming this scheme and the work that is occurring under the various schemes. It is fantastic to see a rejuvenation going on.

I remind the Minister that Cork county is maybe seven times the size of some other counties-----

My Department is committed to providing efficient and well-managed services and achieves this by striking a satisfactory balance between the delivery of the business needs and high quality service to the public and the need to allow civil servants to address their health and safety needs during periods of illness.  The Department manages absences on health grounds in line with relevant legislation and civil service circulars, policies and guidelines.  All civil servants have a responsibility to the organisation of which they are part of, to their colleagues and to themselves to attend work and provide effective service.

While an employee can inform their employer of the nature of their health conditions insofar as it can affect their ability to carry out their work in a safe manner, they do have the right not to disclose the nature of their illness and as such I cannot report accurately on the number of staff on sick leave due to stress or other specified illnesses.

Our systems bulk reports sick leave by the number of instances and days rather than the number of staff on sick leave, as staff can have multiple absences over the course of a given year.

The table below provides data on the number of staff in the Department, the total number of instances and days of sick leave, and the average respectively per person for the years in question.

-----and when she is allocating funding to bear that in mind. We find sometimes we get the same allocation as very small counties indeed and that maybe is not fair.

With respect to acquiring buildings, is it possible to acquire land adjacent to buildings which would assist in rejuvenating the buildings and bringing them back to life? For instance, sometimes access to the upstairs of a building can be a problem and land close by can lead to other floors of buildings being used. Off-line, I can tell the Minister about a case that I have in mind. I refer not to the building itself, but maybe property close by as well which would make a significant difference to rejuvenating dereliction and vacancy.

I thank the Minister. I very much welcome all the work that the Department is doing in town and village renewal to date but also that the Minister plans to have completed in 2023.

I am wondering about the co-ordination between the Department and the local authorities because I have come across one issue recently in relation to the vacant property grant where an application was submitted over four months ago and still the local authority had not signed off on it. Is there any co-ordination to ensure that there are checks and balances so that there are not any additional hurdles for the people who want to get on, develop and get renewal into their village or town?

The other issue, which I raised previously with the Tánaiste and, indeed, with the Taoiseach, is that in some areas the reason there has been no investment over a long number of years in a particular property is because of title problems. I have suggested that local authorities would engage with the property owners about using the compulsory purchase order system-----

The Deputy can contribute again later.

-----which would allow the local authority to buy and to sell again to the person who wants to develop because it would rectify the title issue.

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí.

First of all, in response to Deputy Paul Donnelly, 22 town regeneration officers are appointed. There are four positions left to be filled. I expect those will be filled in the coming weeks.

Second, we have a national oversight and advisory group for town centre first and it is due to meet later this month. At this meeting, the town centre first national office will outline progress to date on its work programme for the year. I will keep an eye on it to make sure that they are moving on. It is a new position and we want to work with them.

Deputy Cannon is a big supporter of Loughrea town hall. There is a request in from the local authority for more money for that project. My officials are currently going through the due diligence on that. Hopefully, when that is finished, they will make a decision and they will come with a recommendation to me at that stage. In fairness, many projects have gone over budget costing more than initially expected. We are trying to work with local authorities because we want these projects to get finished.

Deputy Stanton spoke to me directly about a project in his constituency where the community needed to acquire a piece of land and the adjacent building so that they could open up access and expand the facilities at a local library in his area. There are two options. The local authority could seek funding under the building acquisitions measure, which is open at present; or it could put together an application under town and village renewal, which will open for applications in June. By the way, in case the Deputy thinks Cork did not do well, it did, as they say up my country, "rightly". It got €34.605 million under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund. That is only one fund in my Department. I will not read out what the other counties got, but I think they are ahead.

Deputy Colm Burke talked about local authority applications. They have to come through the local authority before they get to me. We liaise with local authorities but, ultimately, they have to make the decision on what comes through.

The title problems were raised with me previously by the Deputy. That will be a matter for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

I appreciate the answer around the appointments. It is good to see 22 people have been appointed. There are four left to be appointed. That will be excellent.

In terms of the implementation, I await the first report back from that to see how it is being implemented and monitored.

I thank the Minister for that update on Loughrea town hall. There is significant potential here to develop something truly remarkable - a 156-seat theatre, an arts centre and a business incubation - that will serve not alone the needs of Loughrea but, indeed, the whole of east Galway. I am very encouraged to hear that the Minister's officials are doing an assessment of that proposal right now.

In terms of towns nationally, what sort of work does the Minister envisage happening in encouraging people to live over the shop? Loughrea Chamber of Commerce in recent years did a survey of the main street of Loughrea which during the day is an exceptionally active and vibrant place but is rendered somewhat still and silent at nighttime. I am wondering what will we do to develop the potential of those significant number of units that exist over every shop in every town in Ireland.

I very much welcome the funding the Minister has outlined for Cork. As my colleague from Cork, Deputy Stanton, clearly outlined, it is a huge county. There are lots of towns and villages throughout the place. It is important, therefore, that there is co-ordination and that where communities have a real drive on to renew and revitalise their area, there is no hurdle put in their way which prevents it from happening. It is important that there is that co-operation from the Department with the local authority in making sure that the local authority is delivering because I know the Department will deliver. It is about us all working together so that we can make really good progress in a very short time period.

My Department works very closely with the local authorities. We need them to work with us to deliver these projects locally because they are consulting with local communities and they know what they need on the ground. Only last week, my senior officials met with the director of services with responsibility for the implementation of some of the funds from my Department. It is in constant contact to see where there might be issues that we can address. It is a two-way process, let me put it that way, and we will continue to work with them.

Under the buildings acquisition measure that I introduced last year, we gave funding to local authorities to purchase two buildings which they identified with local groups could be converted into community use. Much of what I am dealing with is community and remote working and enterprise hubs. We are working with them. Many of them have bought former bank buildings and they are converted into remote working hubs or enterprise spaces. In other cases, it might have been an old primary school or a Garda station which will become a home to the local men's shed or another local community group. That is where we are keeping the focus on it.

Then there is the standard town and village renewal scheme. It provides grants of up to half a million euro. For the larger scale or over €500,000, there is the rural regeneration fund. Indeed, last week I visited Abbeyshrule in County Longford where there is an 18th century stone building that was basically a ruin.

It was being used as a farmyard. It has been completely restored and is now a remote working hub. When I was there, they said to me that they should have invited Deputy Ring because he gave them the money. It goes to show that it takes a while for some of these projects to be finished. Deputy Ring allocated them that money. They have not forgotten about it. They said to pass on their best wishes to Deputy Ring. We had a great day. We opened this lovely centre that runs right along the Royal Canal. That is the type of focus that my Department has on the community, enterprise and remote working side.

The Government announced a full suite of measures for over-the-shop property on top of what we are already doing. We approved a major expansion of the Croí Cónaithe scheme, with grants of up to €50,000 now available to bring a vacant property back into use and of up to €70,000 if it is a derelict property. I believe this is a really good initiative. I know from the inquiries coming into my constituency office that there is huge interest in it. I believe this fund can be used to renovate centre-of-town properties. It can be well spent. Some €70,000 is not to be sneezed at. It is a lot of money and it will go a long way to help people to look at renovating existing vacant houses. It will prove to be successful. I think I can leave it at that.