Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Deputy O'Sullivan's suggestion that the Minister might expand the strategy from a communications strategy to include communications and consultation would address what is contained in her amendment but it would also allow for a broader strategy to be put together that would cover the essential needs of the area.

On the issue of organisations, the Minister said the residents are able to speak for themselves. There is no doubt that they are represented in the legislation. Not only does the area have resident associations active in the area, the residents are involved in organisations comprising a mixture of people from inside and outside the area. The markets area residents organisation has a chairman who lives outside the constituency. The Dublin Inner City Partnership has a CEO who lives outside the constituency but the activities are within the neighbourhood. The northwest inner-city network has a list of a large number of organisations that are active in the fields of education, employment and service to deal with the elderly and various services. These organisations are interlinked with residents and with residents' associations so there is no contradiction in what the Minister has said. We would like to see the residents deeply involved and I am sure they will fight their own corner. That does not mean that one excludes other organisations active in the area, who may have been active for decades.

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