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

I thank the Taoiseach for describing the problem, but I asked him about what he is going to do about it. This is the main street of our capital city, and it is a disgrace. I asked him if he would consider establishing a Taoiseach's task force. Will he bring proposals to this House next month when statements on O’Connell Street will be taken?

We have talked about this for long enough and this is now at a tipping point. Businesses are complaining that they cannot get footfall on O'Connell Street because of the state of the street and the danger that is present. Will the Taoiseach head up a multi-agency task force under his Department, which we all agree is desperately needed? Will he establish it now so that we can start taking action before the street further declines? It is at a tipping point. We can point to various people who represented Dublin Central down through the years such as a former Minister for Finance and a Taoiseach who was a Fianna Fáil representative for 35 years.

The current Minister for Finance has been in office for several years and represents that area, yet the street is a disgrace. Will the Taoiseach take action and deal with this, and stop just describing the problems?

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