Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Over the past year the Taoiseach has shown significant interest in the north inner city and to his credit he has spent a good a good deal of time there. He tasked Kieran Mulvey with producing a report, which most of the stakeholders in the community believe charts a route forward that will be very beneficial. Last week, I visited the north inner city with my former Dáil colleague, Joe Costello, and we spoke to many community groups. There is growing scepticism about the ongoing commitment to this project and, in particular, about the prospect of the Taoiseach not being in the role he currently occupies. In February, the Taoiseach announced he would shortly appoint an independent executive chair to lead a number of the implementation structures, but three months later we have not had this appointment. The people I spoke to in the north inner city are very fearful. As one of them put it, if the Taoiseach disappears over the horizon so will the commitment to this really important project. When can we expect to hear the announcement of an independent chair and what other specific actions does the Taoiseach intend to take to implement the report?

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