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

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I do not disagree with her that there are serious societal issues on O’Connell Street, as shown on “Prime Time” yesterday evening. One is struck by the extraordinary wanton violence perpetrated by people against others on our streets late in the evening. There is no question that the free exchange of drugs on the streets is obvious to many people, and people have been commenting for quite some time about the drug activity on the streets of the capital, particularly around O’Connell Street and the quays. Many people say that they are afraid to walk some of these streets.

It is a multifaceted problem but, in the first instance, I always reflect on the fact that there are times when Members speak enthusiastically about local authorities being delegated responsibility to develop their city. We cannot take the view here that the local authority has no role or should not be a central driving force behind O'Connell Street. There are significant plans for the fabric of O’Connell Street, which became the subject of a lot of controversy in respect of the Hammerson site, for example, and the GPO and all the side lanes, and that went on for years. Oireachtas Members sat on joint committees regarding that. There is no question that the fabric of the street has to change. There is a choice to be made by all of us and decisions have to be made, but the default position has been whether we can keep the campaign going, by opposing development, for another ten years.

I have heard people talk about the rejuvenation of O’Connell Street for 25 years. Oireachtas Members formed a committee with local councillors and people. A solution emerged but not everyone is happy with that and they want to go back to the drawing board and start again. If we are being honest, given our planning laws and everything else, it will mean another decade of no development on the street, and, therefore, we have to make choices. Sometimes politicians have to stand up and make decisions about the future of their city and country and not hide forever behind a campaign and pander to every interest, no matter how legitimate it may be. Sometimes a solution has to be worked out and a consensus has to emerge, and not everybody will be happy with every aspect of that.

The physical neglect of the street and the need to accelerate the development of the streetscape from residential to retail is important. The drug issue is very important, but then again, people have objected to injection centres and various facilities that people and agencies have endeavoured to bring in, which is also a sad reality. I believe in the health-based approach to drugs and drug addiction in particular. An Garda Síochána has a range of operations on O’Connell Street and in the capital, but it is not a Garda issue on its own by any definition.

I am not opposing what the Deputy said but we need to discuss this further in terms of a task force being a panacea for this.

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