The success of pedestrianisation across Ireland has prompted a call for these programmes to be made permanent and expanded nationwide.

Fine Gael Senator John McGahon has spoke out about the schemes, emphasising their importance in ensuring the full recovery of urban areas which suffered during the pandemic.

"We need to see the positive changes put in place in our towns and villages over the past number of months not only continue, but expanded further to ensure that we place local businesses, communities and people at the heart of our urban and rural centres," Senator McGahon said.

"Supports such as the €17 million Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme resulted in the changing of our streetscapes and centres for the better as streets became pedestrianised and outdoor public dining spaces were created. The pedestrianisation of streets has been a phenomenal success; it's benefitted businesses as they reopened, and it has also made our cities and towns more accessible places for everyone.

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"Not only should these pedestrianisation projects be made a permanent feature of our town and city centres, but they should be expanded to streets in as many towns across the country as possible. Financial support also needs to be made available to businesses and local authorities to facilitate long-term, permanent outdoor facilities.

"People actually want to eat and drink outside now, it's a completely different way of dining than anything we've ever had in Ireland before and given the benefits from a public health point of view, we need to ensure that outdoor dining can continue into the cooler and wetter months.

"Outdoor dining and pedestrianised streets have benefitted businesses in our town and city centres in particular. These were amongst the businesses hit the hardest during the pandemic, as people stayed within their localities to do their shopping and socialising and didn't venture into urban centres."

While recognising the boost the summer season has had for many areas across the country, Senator McGahon has expressed concern over what the next few months will mean for shopping and hospitality destinations.

"Many owners are still feeling the negative financial consequences of the pandemic closures, and unfortunately the good business they've had over the summer won’t be enough to sustain them if they don't continue to do well as we head into the quieter months," he added.

"As we look beyond the summer season and into the autumn, we need to continue supporting local, Irish-owned businesses. Many people became very conscious of where they were spending their money during the pandemic, and who was benefiting from their business. We need to see this way of thinking continue as things get back to normal, and ensure we keep buying from Irish companies so that they can claw back lost revenue over the coming months and secure the long-term viability of their businesses."