To follow on from Deputy Gary Gannon, the Cowtown Market is a space that is so much more than an outdoor food market. It is a space that was once a derelict site. We have seen serious levels of antisocial behaviour at that end of Prussia Street and the Stoneybatter area. It opened since Covid and has been thriving ever since. It creates local employment and has strengthened relationships with the local pub, the City Arms, and other local businesses like Tesco and the shops across the way. It has really brought life and vitality to that area. Dublin City Council wants to return that to a derelict site. It is a complete contradiction. It contradicts some of the work that Dublin City Council is trying to do around the city centre with regard to meanwhile use and everything else. Not only has this business strengthened local businesses but it has strengthened local community networks. It is complementing an already amazing community spirit in Stoneybatter. The Stay With Us café is a small local independent café that is not only very important and a community hub for the local community in Phibsborough but because there is also an emergency homeless hostel next door to it, it is a hub for the people living there. Both spaces are at risk of being lost. We are crying out for derelict spaces to be turned into community hubs. We are not asking the Minister of State to intervene. We are asking him to open up a dialogue with Dublin City Council, as we have also done. Again, these spaces are not only very important to local independent businesses but they are vital community hubs. We cannot lose them because they will fall back into dereliction, and we know what that dereliction brings. We are doing everything in our power to save these spaces. We are asking the same of the Minister of State.

Sentiment score: 0.07

I thank the Minister of State. Consistency is key, and that is what is letting us down with our local authority in this instance. Communities do not expect every planning application to succeed, but they do expect consistency in how planning is enforced. We are not asking for weaker planning rules, but for a planning system that is proportionate, consistent and capable of recognising the wider public good when local people invest in their communities and turn once-derelict sites that were not only eyesores, but causing antisocial behaviour and other nefarious activities, into thriving local community hubs. It is hard to take.

Sentiment score: 0.29