O’Brien goes on tour to prop up his urban revamp policy

EMBATTLED Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has embarked on a series of national tours as he attempts to shore up support for his housing policy initiatives.

The Housing Minister is coming under increased pressure over a series of initiatives such as shared home equity and the failure to restart building as promised on March 5.

Mr O’Brien’s response has been to hit the road for a series of PR events as part of a ‘communications strategy’ centred on the Government’s new Urban Regeneration and

The Minister ‘will leave Cork until last’

Development Fund (URDF).

The URDF part-funds projects aimed at enhancing urban areas to make them more attractive places in which to live, work, visit and invest.

To date, Mr O’Brien has announced €430m for eight regeneration projects in Dublin, funded under ‘Call 2’ of the URDF.

Details of the provisional funding allocations for URDF projects in the eight other Project Ireland 2040 investment regions will be announced in the coming weeks.

All selected projects support the National Planning Framework’s ‘national strategic outcome’ of compact growth which ‘aims to facilitate a greater proportion of residential and commercial development, supported by infrastructure, services and amenities, within the existing built-up areas of larger urban settlements’.

Outside Dublin, the minister plans to engage in a series of nine announcements crisscrossing the country from Dublin through the Northeast, Midlands, West, Northwest, Southwast, Mid-East, MidWest, and Southwest.

The tour will cover Fingal, Cavan, Longford, Galway, Sligo, Carlow, Meath, and Limerick.

Mr O’Brien has directed that the tour will ‘leave Cork until last’, with the Taoiseach present for a major announcement.

Outside Cork and the Fingal launch in the minister’s constituency – where national media are invited – the other events are somewhat humbler, with invitees consisting in the main of councillors, junior ministers, and a few local radio interviews on housing targets.

One source said: ‘It looks a bit like another one of those leadership tours... it looks somewhat grandiose, and the local councillors and TDs will love the photo-opportunities.’

A spokesperson for Mr O’Brien said:‘The URDF has balanced regional development at its heart and significant funding will be announced in line with the Project Ireland 2040 investment regions.

‘All visits will be done in strict adherence to Covid-19 guidelines.’