Deputy Roderic O'Gorman is on his feet.

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. At Cabinet today I understand the Government approved Robert Watt to head the special purpose vehicle, SPV, charged with addressing dereliction in Dublin city centre. His appointment comes a full 18 months after the report of the Dublin city task force was published but, helpfully, 24 hours before the writ is moved for the Dublin Central by-election. The task force report proposed a set of ten recommendations, or ten big moves, for the city. Tackling vacancy and dereliction and bringing abandoned sites in the city centre back to productive use is one of those big moves. City council officials have told councillors that the special purpose vehicle Robert Watt will head up will lead on the vacancy and dereliction work and will have another role in one of the other recommendations, namely revitalising O'Connell Street and the surrounding areas. Two of the recommendations, therefore, are being led by the SPV.

I want to ask the Taoiseach about some of the other recommendations. What of the recommendation for a total regeneration of social housing complexes in the city centre, giving tenants warmer homes and protecting them from the worst of the next energy crisis? What about the recommendation to deliver better and more localised services for vulnerable populations? What about the recommendation to provide an additional 1,000 gardaí across the city centre area? I cannot say the Government is doing nothing about that last recommendation. The Dublin Inquirer reported that in the 18 months since the report was published, 40 extra gardaí have been appointed across the two city centre districts. On that trajectory, those additional 1,000 gardaí will be provided some time in mid-2063.

I have been out canvassing across Dublin Central with our candidate, Councillor Janet Horner. The lack of Garda presence and the sense that low- to mid-level antisocial behaviour is now just tolerated are prevalent across all communities. The task force report itself sets out that a total of €750 million to €1 billion in extra investment is necessary to deliver all ten big moves.

As the voters of Dublin Central put their attention to the by-election, I have three questions for the Taoiseach. When will the large-scale regeneration of social housing begin? Is the Government still committed to the additional 1,000 gardaí, and when will they be delivered by? How much additional spending - I am speaking about additional spending - has been provided to date to implement the task force's ten recommendations?

I was out in Dublin Central last evening with Councillor John Stephens, and it was a very pleasant evening indeed. There was good feedback and a lot of issues raised, of course, on the doorsteps.

Yes, approval has been given to the expected appointment of Robert Watt as CEO, seconded to the special purpose vehicle. The SPV is a key legal vehicle to ensure not only the implementation of the task force report, but also the regeneration of the core of Dublin city, particularly the O'Connell Street area more generally, because it will have powers and capacity. The Government will not be found wanting in supporting housing provision in the area. There is, as the Deputy knows, quite a range of properties in private sector hands at the moment. That is an evolving situation, but I would like to have a situation emerge where the State has greater capacity to revitalise key assets on O'Connell Street, in particular the GPO.

We are doing a lot of investment in Moore Street.

The last budget dramatically and significantly expanded the living in the city initiative. A lot more substantial grants are now available to support living above the shop and to support mixed-use development. We are also committed to unlocking under-used urban space for housing and enterprise and then pulling everything together under planning, housing, transport and heritage, so that we get a consistent, one approach to the development of the city.

Dublin City Council has begun the task of setting up the Dublin city task force special purpose vehicle. The CEO designate is Robert Watt. It is putting in staff with the required technical skills for an interim programme management unit. Essentially, all the building blocks are being put in place now to get moving on what is a ten-year integrated area strategy for Dublin city centre. It will tackle vacancy and dereliction and get real change and will transform the situation there. I am confident we can do it. As a Government, we are very committed to doing it. We believe the GPO will be a major flagship project at the core of Dublin city.

Various funding streams will facilitate the objectives both of the task force and the special purpose vehicle itself. Getting the special purpose vehicle together is taking a bit of time. In terms of gardaí, we have significantly increased their number. We have continued to do so and recruitment at Templemore is very positive at the moment.

The Taoiseach says the Government will not be found wanting and he has listed a number of undoubtedly valuable projects, like the Moore Street regeneration. However, these were in train years before the Dublin task force published its report. The whole idea behind setting up the task force was because additionality was needed to move the dial within Dublin's city centre. It was never meant to be a repackaging of stuff we were doing already. The Taoiseach says he has been out canvassing, and I am sure he will be back again. I think the Taoiseach will need better answers for the people of Dublin Central because he has consistently cited the special purpose vehicle. Yes, that is important in terms of the regeneration of O'Connell Street and the surrounding areas but the work on Dublin City Council's social housing stock is not being led by the special purpose vehicle. So many of those tenants are suffering from the energy price crisis now but that work is not being led by that. Will he give me clarity on who leads that work?

It is not as if we are not investing right now, as the Deputy knows. About €132 million from the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, has already been already allocated for the north inner city concept area 1 proposal. This involves the regeneration and redevelopment of several areas of the north city that have suffered from dereliction and decline. Some €60 million of URDF funding has been allocated to the Parnell Square cultural quarter project and a €44 million project to refurbish the fruit and vegetable market is currently on site. That is outside the core inner city area but it is adjacent to it and it will be an important driver of regeneration.

On policing, we have about 3,894 gardaí assigned in the Dublin metropolitan region, supported by 90 Garda reserves and 463 civilian staff. The Dublin north central and south central divisions were the first areas to roll out the new high visibility policing initiative. During the first six months of the roll out there were increased detections for public order offences. Body-worn cameras are in use across three stations. I know the Deputy was against them but they are helping with the detection and reduction of crime as well.