Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The creation of this task force was a proposal from Deputy McDonald. When she put the proposal, she was very specific and clued in about the need to involve the local community because the local community is central to this. The job of politicians should be to empower citizens. The weakness in the Government's approach is that the task force is a ministerial one. Those who live and work in the community and who have helped it to survive despite successive Governments neglecting and actively discriminating against them do not have the type of involvement they should have at this time. The North Inner City Community Coalition has produced an excellent report, which I am sure the Taoiseach has read. It is very extensive and thoughtful and reports on all the interventions across a range of issues that it believes are needed. If I may say so, it is the expert. The Taoiseach and I as well as task forces will come and go but if we had a task force with the statutory involvement of local people, that would be a constant. It must be sustainable, properly resourced and involve a long-term intervention, not a quick fix on the back of deplorable murders or other controversies which will spark up every so often. Before those murders, the problems in the inner city, like many other neglected areas, were still there.

I understand that Mr. Kieran Mulvey will visit Ballybough House this evening at the invitation of Deputy McDonald. I am sure the local people will tell him what they have told me and the Taoiseach and give detailed propositions for improving their quality of life and opportunities for their children. Those children have the same potential and possibilities and deserve the same rights as anyone else. Will the Taoiseach give a firm commitment to publish the Mulvey report when he receives it and hold a debate in the House as quickly as possible? Will he accept and support the key involvement of local community representatives and stakeholders as of right in this task force because it could be a wasted opportunity?

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