2026-07-14

7. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to provide an update on the town centre first policy; his views on whether it is achieving its stated aims, taking the Dunshaughlin town team as an example; the evidence he would point to that suggests this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52566/26]

The town centre first, TCF, policy, published in February 2022, is a joint initiative between my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The policy sets out a framework to facilitate and resource the regeneration of Irish towns to ensure they are vibrant, viable and attractive places to live in, work in, invest in and visit. Important progress includes the establishment of a dedicated national TCF office and the appointment of town regeneration officers, TROs, in 26 local authorities, including Meath County Council. TROs lead on implementation of the policy at the local level. They work with the local town teams through a place-based approach to develop a TCF town plan, such as the new plan which the Dunshaughlin town team launched last month. TCF provides for an integrated policy approach for the development of our towns underpinned by funding streams across Government, including a range of measures from my Department. For example, under the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, over €3.6 million has been allocated to five projects located in County Meath since 2020. This included over €950,000 in category 2 funding for Dunshaughlin courthouse and public realm project, which I recently visited with Deputy Gillian Toole. Recent funding calls for proposals from my Department have shown that the TCF approach is having an impact. Higher quality and more considered applications have been received and have secured funding for project proposals emanating initially from town centre first plans. We are committed to the TCF policy and I will continue to work with the Ministers of State, Deputies Cummins and Buttimer, in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and we will have a joint Departments of rural and community development and housing and local government event later this year in Waterford around TCF and learning the lessons from TCF to date.

I welcome the work of the Dunshaughlin town team, which has produced the town centre first plan that is very comprehensive. I have participated in some of the consultations, and my colleague, Councillor Fionnan Blake, is on the town team. There was tremendous engagement at the launch recently in the pastoral centre, which would say that the level of commitment from the local community, their interest and ambition for their own place is there in absolute spades. People from all different backgrounds, from those who are new to Dunshaughlin to those who have been there a lifetime, contributed to this. The question then is how to turn this into a reality. The vision is there but the question regarding the funding stream will be the next one asked. When is it going to happen?

I fully agree with the Deputy and I commend the town team in Dunshaughlin on the town centre first plan. My Department is engaging closely with Meath County Council across several different projects, including a RRDF application. As a consequence of the TCF plan, I understand Meath County Council and the town team are closely engaged in working on an RRDF application. As the closing date is 27 July, I cannot tell the Deputy if it has come in or not. However, the officials in my Department have a call scheduled with Meath County Council on RRDF for next Friday, 17 July, at which they will get a steer from Meath County Council as to whether this is coming in. I know from a meeting I had at the beginning of June with the CEO of Meath County Council and with the then Cathaoirleach, Wayne Harding, that this was seen as a priority within the county. Until such time as we get an application in, I cannot make any further comment. The only thing I will say is the town centre first plan will considerably accentuate the application and strengthen it.

I appreciate that but I have to say that understandably, the community in Dunshaughlin feels as though there were missed opportunities in the past with regard to our RRDF funding and that a huge amount is riding on the next application. We certainly will be making the case to Meath County Council and to the Minister himself that this funding application be successful, because it is an excellent one. In the wider context, there is a long list of priorities in terms of amenities in the public realm and in other areas such as active travel and transportation. Will the Minister's review of the town centre first policy look at how to integrate the funding streams for towns to ensure all these policy objectives align with one another?

Definitely, Deputy. In the context of the discussions we are having with the Ministers of State, Deputies Cummins and Buttimer, we want to make that alignment true to the funding streams within our Department, as well as their Department, such as with the former URDF project. There is a new name for that now on which I have drawn a blank. However, I will say that on the previous occasion, the Dunshaughlin application was not grounded in the town centre first plan but it is now. Some of the feedback we discussed on the previous one was that there needed to be a plan and we now have a very solid plan. We have a town regeneration officer within Meath County Council who will be driving on, not just for Dunshaughlin but also for the rest of the county. I highly recommend all the Deputies in the House visit Kells to see what has happened there in the Kells Printing Works. It is an extraordinary project and I am going to get back there myself to see it properly over the summer. That is a similar idea. It is outside the Deputy's own constituency but what is happening in Kells is coming from the town centre first plan-----

It is not outside my constituency. It is bang in the middle; it is my hometown.

My apologies. If there is regeneration happening there, it can happen in Dunshaughlin too.