Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The "Prime Time" programme on the decline of O'Connell Street last night made for grim viewing, but I do not think any of us were particularly shocked or surprised by it. O'Connell Street and the surrounding area have been in decline for several years. As we saw in the programme last night, a variety of problems are now endemic to the area. There is widespread antisocial behaviour, open drug taking and drug dealing, persistent serious violent incidents, chronic dereliction and vacancy, and deeply ingrained dirt and grime almost everywhere one looks. It has the look of an area where those in authority have simply given up.

Walking along the O'Connell Street, almost everything on one side from the Spire to the Ambassador Theatre is derelict and deserted. The area around the Abbey Theatre is similarly derelict, desolate and filthy. This is our national theatre, the area around which should be one of the jewels in the crown of the cultural quarter of the north city. Last night, Dublin City Council defended its performance by noting there would be a deep clean of O'Connell Bridge this month. Seriously, is that the best it can do? This would not be tolerated in any other European capital city.

When it comes to tackling antisocial behaviour, a new Garda station was promised by the Minister for Justice in April, but that has now been downgraded to a Garda liaison office. Perhaps this is unsurprising as we recently found out that the 800 new gardaí promised this year will not materialise. Just 460 new Garda recruits will have completed or be in the middle of training by the end of this year. Even if there were a sustained Garda response, in isolation, it would not work to alleviate the problems.

The scourge of drug addiction is often at the root of criminal justice issues, which, in turn, is a product of deprivation and poverty. Successive Governments have promised better drug services and supervised injection centres for years, but they have yet to materialise. We have just 23 dedicated hospital detox and stabilisation beds throughout the country. The number of rehabilitation beds is also risibly low. The issues are clearly multifaceted, but the question is: what is going to be done about them? What we need is a multi-agency approach about which there needs to be urgency. That is why I call on the Taoiseach to head up a task force to rejuvenate and clean up O'Connell Street to bring it back to some kind of level that we can be proud of as a capital city main street.

Statements will be taken on this in the Chamber next month. Will the Taoiseach agree to bringing forward a plan for a task force under the remit of his Department on that day?

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