Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the most striking aspects of the report of the task force is that it involves very little more than the type of planning which was typical before the Government effectively closed down local development efforts in 2011 and 2012. When we meet community groups in the area, as I have, and I again visited there recently, we see there is a need to develop a new national commitment to partnership-based community development. The original drug task forces had a huge impact on many areas. That was not primarily a question of money, although it did involve additional funding. It was a question of whether there was a way to get all the State agencies working together in an integrated manner and positively discriminating in favour of such areas. Past initiatives did have a significant impact, when we consider school completion data or the numbers attending courses for early school leavers and at-risk youth. A community-based approach had a huge and very positive impact on many parts of the city of Dublin.

I am concerned by the fact that responsibility for early school leaving is with Tusla. It should not be there. That happened because of trying to beef up Tusla when the new Department of Children and Youth Affairs was established. The same applies to the National Educational Welfare Board, which is out of the remit of the Department of Education and Skills. Both are integral to education. We need to go back to community-based service planning. When I was in the north-east inner city a month ago I saw that housing is a very big issue which this task force is not dealing with. There is a concern that there is an unwritten, almost unspoken, policy of trying to change the profile of who resides in these areas.

The quality of local housing stock is shocking. I cannot see why there is not a proper, specific housing strategy for this area to provide new local authority houses but also facilitate the refurbishment of the existing stock, which is in a very bad way. It cannot all be about student accommodation and catering for employees who are coming in transiently. The local, as it were, native population must be looked after.

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