”a mechanism for leveaging private sector investment into areas of dereliction and decline” according to Bobby Molloy TD in 1998.
The new scheme launched that year accepted that some aspects of the scheme at that point had not been successful. The new scheme he stated would be required to ”take full account of the social needs in and effects on areas targeted for regeneration. It will therefore be an important objective under the new scheme to ensure that physical renewal contributes to social renewal. Architecture, design and conservation opportunities under the scheme must yield optimum results.”
Personally I think Section 23 and the Living over the shop scheme have been abject failures.