Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 April 2026
1319. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the estimated time to carry out the relevant stages when developing a town centre first plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30383/26]
View answerLaunched in 2022, the Town Centre First (TCF) Policy is a major cross-government policy which aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. It does this by setting out a framework to facilitate and resource the regeneration of Irish towns to ensure they are vibrant, viable places to live, work, invest in, and visit.
TCF Town Plans are community-based plans that are produced by a local Town Team, with the support and leadership of Town Regeneration Officers which are funded by my Department. Town Plans set out a vision and identify regeneration opportunities, direct investment and maximise the unique strengths and assets of their town.
In December 2021, €2.6 million in funding was made available by my Department to deliver 26 TCF Town Plans under Phase 1. These towns were selected based on submissions received from the local authorities. This first phase of town plans have been complete for some time and can be viewed on the National TCF website at this address: [https://towncentrefirst.ie/]. Projects to develop these plans took an average of two years to complete.
In February 2024, funding of €780,000 was made available to Town Teams for the development of a second phase of 26 TCF Town Plans. These town plans are substantially complete and, as plans are completed, they are made available on the National TCF website.
It should be noted that, by design and in using a placed based policy approach to rural development, TCF embeds both the management and ownership of the process to develop plans with local communities. Typically, this has seen TCF Plans under the second round of towns take up to 24 months to complete. The challenges and opportunities that are present in each town developing a TCF Town Plan are unique, and so the process and requirements in order to complete these plans will vary.
The National TCF Office provides guidance and support documents to Town Teams and Town Regeneration Officers to help in the preparation of TCF town plans. Other supports including the sharing of experience and best practice through the Town Regeneration Officer network are also in place.
