Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their presentations. As Dr. McDonagh said, there has been little change in the 20 years that I have been involved between being on the council in Dublin and being a Deputy. While there have been some positive changes, on the ground, there is very little change. Many of the same problems seem to crop up. I am curious what effect Covid has had for FLAC. Has it thrown up more challenges in dealing with different issues? An example of what I am talking about is the Gavin family on Ratoath Road. There are 15 members of the family and there is an issue with water being cut off. They are getting tankers but have no direct water, which is a disgrace and should not be allowed. Fingal County Council said there is a legal issue with the land which has to be sorted out before it will put running water in. It was originally there but was cut off for a particular reason. Issues such as the redevelopment of St. Margaret's in Ballymun come to me. I have been going to meetings about that for more than ten years. Nothing has changed with the accommodation or the number of people looking for it. In many cases, they are forced to look outside their community and for the housing assistance payment or otherwise. It is a disaster to be pulled out of their own community. That has torn the community apart over the years, with people being pushed out due to issues relating to rent supplement or otherwise and accommodation not being provided.

The equality review is important. There is no doubt that Sinn Féin councillors will engage with that and have good input. We passionately agree that it needs to be ramped up and pushed as much as possible. The discrimination and issues that develop in different communities are frustrating. I still see much of the discrimination that was also happening 20 years ago. We must have people pushing and making sure that we address this so that this is not allowed to continue. How much information does the Traveller community have with regard to FLAC and other bodies? Apart from Pavee Point and such organisations, is the community aware that FLAC exists? Is the community aware of the equality review? I am sure people should have input into it.