The process of designating urban renewal areas for lucrative tax incentives used to be crude, secretive and even politically motivated. It was a question, as Mr Robert Molloy observed yesterday, of a minister "running his thumb down a street" on some map or other.
Those days are clearly gone. Urban renewal designation is now much more sophisticated, focused on wider issues of social and economic progress rather than on the physical development of rundown areas.
This is borne out by the immense detail in some 200 maps issued yesterday by the Department of the Environment and by the fact that each of them forms part of an integrated area plan (IAP) in line with recommendations made by a panel of independent experts.
It is also evident from the fact that, within hours of Mr Molloy's press conference to announce the latest scheme, the report of this panel, as well as relevant extracts of the minutes of its meetings, were posted on the Department's website.
The dramatic change in the approach to urban renewal was foreshadowed in a 1996 review (by consultants KPMG in association with Murray O Laoire Architects) of 10 years of urban renewal. It proposed that incentives should be linked to IAPs.
The review concluded that the crude, broad-brush approach to urban renewal in the previous decade had produced mixed results. While it had levered hundreds of millions of pounds in private sector investment, architecture and urban design did not score highly.
It also found that there was a huge imbalance in investment between new and old buildings, with the latter accounting for just 12 per cent. Given the undeniable fact that so many buildings in Irish cities and towns are still in decay, this needed to be changed.
There is also an acceptance that a high level of owner-occupation is crucial to the creation of stable new communities. Thus, the use of the Section 23 tax incentive for rental accommodation is to be "strictly limited".
The Government is now proposing to extend urban renewal incentives to many smaller towns for townscape improvement schemes. Mr Molloy, the Minister of State in charge of urban renewal, hopes this will lead to the restoration of derelict or disused buildings.
Given that 43 towns and cities will benefit from this scheme, due to start on March 1st, its extension to a potentially large number of smaller towns may be seen as the policy equivalent of ensuring that there is "something for everyone in the audience".
There can be no doubt that urban renewal activity has transformed the fortunes of Irish cities and towns, bringing life back to their centres. However, in some places, such as Athlone and Portlaoise, it has actually undermined main streets and relocated business elsewhere.
It is regrettable that a more targeted approach was not adopted when urban renewal legislation was first introduced in 1986; then, perhaps, the results might not have been so mixed. Mr Molloy conceded that, "with hindsight", it should have had more focus.
But it is too late for any expressions of regret. The facts are on the ground; in all those bright, new buildings and the few older ones that were refurbished, to stand for another century or so. What mistakes have been made - blocks of shoe box-style apartments, for example - cannot be corrected now.
