Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State and wish him well in his new role. It will be an interesting journey for him, I am sure.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. When looking at inner-city communities in Dublin, the neglect is obvious. Communities have been neglected.

Flat complexes have been neglected. I was in Macken Villas, which is a flat complex not too far from here. The neglect there is obvious. Conway Court is the same. The neglect there is so obvious. It is hard to sum up the frustration felt by residents. They pay their rent, work hard and kept the front line going during the pandemic, yet they have been neglected for decades. If you look at Mercer House or Markiewicz House, you can see big glistening towers going up all around them yet rats are running around play areas. The tenants put in a simple request for gates - not a chance. Residents of Macken Villas are looking for the upgrading and even cleaning of the playground but no funding is being provided. Bartra has big developments right beside the flats, yet tenants see no benefit to them. People living in flats in Cuffe Street and Digges Street do not even have a small playground for toddlers. All they are looking for is a certain amount of funding, not all of it, to be ring-fenced to benefit the local community because they are the residents who are going to have put up with the noise, dirt and lack of light. It is a significant issue for them. They have been neglected for years.

I do not blame residents for feeling frustrated. A lot of protests are taking place. People are so frustrated because they have been neglected for years. It is inevitable. If I was living in Glovers Court, I would probably not pay my rent because the conditions people have to live in are unacceptable. The residents of Markiewicz House are looking for gates to provide an added sense of security, yet that is not tolerated, funded or supported. There needs to be a real commitment by local government and the Government to ensuring a certain amount of ring-fencing so that local communities will benefit from these huge towers and developments being built right on their doorstep.

The old Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, site on Aungier Street will be sold for millions. It will be developed to the nth degree, yet local communities will not benefit in any way from that. I know residents have put forward a proposal. It makes sense that, as part of that development, there would be a public leisure centre because there is nothing there. Children looking to play football have no grass pitch in the area. Thousands of young children who want to be able to play football have to go to Crumlin to get training on a grass pitch or even a full-size astroturf pitch. It is really important that investment is made in communities.

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