Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Collins and her office for the work that has gone into this. I support the motion. I welcome that the Government appears not to have tabled an amendment and that it will accept the motion. This is positive.

I am struck by the difference in language on this. I will go local for a minute and I will come back to the point on language. Lately all of the Deputies in Galway fought a battle on the need for a community centre in Westside and Newcastle. The community had to apply to a particular fund but it lost out. I and those involved wonder why a community centre was not part of the development of the area in the first place, instead of having to try to source funding for it. It was a nightmare and the community did not get it. Fast forward to the budget and we were left meeting the Minister to try to create a special fund for new community centres because the existing fund was only for enhancements. This is now under way.

I say all of this having listened to my colleague, Deputy Collins, speak about Dynamic Drimnagh. The language of the people and what is needed in an area caught my attention. I have a document from Dublin City Council. I will not comment on particular councils but I have a document that is in response to this issue. It is from the head of finance and, fair play to the person, it is a comprehensive letter. The contrast in language is stark. Perhaps this is where the problem lies. We have ignored communities and their needs and what is necessary to have a living community, which is what is behind the motion.

The document is a report to the strategic policy committee on finance. First there is an apology because there were other priorities and stresses on the council so the matter was never teased out where it should have been, which was at the strategic policy committee on finance. At the bottom of the document it is stated it will be teased out in the public consultation on levies. This is not the way to tease it out. The levies have continued in the matter in which they were introduced and we do not have equity of access to the levies. I am no expert but it is quite clear from what we are seeing that serious issues have been raised as to which communities get what, when they get it and how they get it.

Let us go back to the document. It states the matter has not been discussed because there were other priorities. This shocks me because the issue with levies exists everywhere and has existed for a long time. It states it has to be done on a whole-of-city strategic level. I understand this. I found myself swinging back and forth until I looked at the consequences of the way the levies have been distributed. This is the problem. I was swinging with this language until I saw the phrase "public assets deficits". This is what we are speaking about. What language is this? There is "community wealth building". The council has set up a community wealth building working group. Apparently it is doing very well and it will have an implementation plan. In the 21st century, in 2023, a key principle of community wealth building is equity and access to public facilities.

It is worth reading those three and a half pages because they capture what has happened with language. Language has been captured in corporate language and we are talking about "public assets" as opposed to community assets and what Deputy Collins has just outlined about the Dynamic Drimnagh forum, which is what is necessary. It could be replicated in Galway and every other place but we get choked with this type of language and there is no recognition it is time for an analysis.

Some areas in Dublin are known as better areas and seem to get more levies. I am no expert and do not know if that is right but it is what is being said by councillors while, at the same time, the same councillors are saying they really want what they are getting here. However, with what we are facing and the figures that have been quoted for more than 60,000 houses per year and all the development that is going ahead, and notwithstanding the crisis we are shouting at the Government daily to do something about, it cannot be done on its own and must be matched with community plans such as the Dynamic Drimnagh one. There must be recognition we cannot put up structures just for the sake of a crisis to say we are doing something without having a living, breathing community with proper facilitates and a real honest talk about how many storeys are appropriate. Deputy Collins proposed four storeys and I agree with her. That dialogue is missing in Galway as well. We must ask what type of city we want and what type of towns we want while all the time solving the housing crisis and facing our climate obligations. I again thank Deputy Collins.

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