Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is no point in trying to do it from one source only. The Deputy is aware that I met with community leaders in the inner city down at St. Laurence O'Toole's School. There were contributions there from 30 or 40 people who are leaders in their own areas. Last night, I met with a range of people, some public representatives and some not. I believe it is important to take into account the representatives of all parties. There was a comment made yesterday evening about how the terms of reference were being drafted by a wider group in the inner city. I wait to see what those terms of reference are. I do not know all of the personnel involved in that particular area, though members commented that it seemed to be a wider group that normal. I indicated that I did not want the task force to try to cover the entire area and that it should be more tightly managed.

I will communicate with Deputy Howlin directly and I am sorry that he was not contacted after he raised this issue last week. I hope we will set up a task force that can be a model and a template for any other area in the country by the end of July. I have to go back to talk to some of those other groups. People set out their short-, medium- and longer-term views. Everybody made this point: the media, with respect to them, would appear in some cases to have branded the entire area as being gangland. The people resent that. There is so much good happening in the inner city area. They ask that people reflect very carefully on what they say and what they write about the people who live across that entire area. That point was made very forcibly by both public representatives and leaders of communities. We will communicate with the Deputy and with everybody else in this regard.

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