Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the broad principle of what Deputy McAuliffe said. We should have this approach in every area where there are concentrated pockets of significant disadvantage. We need a much more proactive and on-the-ground approach in order to address some of the persistent, often intergenerational problems that can be concentrated in areas of particular disadvantage. Despite what some people think about Dún Laoghaire, we certainly have significant areas of concentrated deprivation and poverty where there are real and significant problems. In response to people going on about anti-social behaviour, criminality and so on, I must say that the number of people who come to my clinic who have been caught up in drug addiction or crime at some point in their lives, and who went through the industrial schools or who were abused in residential care of one kind or another is highly disproportionate. What are the modern versions of that? We must bear in mind the impact that had and how devastating it was. The modern versions of that are children who spend years in homeless accommodation or direct provision and people living in appalling housing conditions. Imagine the resentment that creates and the trauma and damage it does to someone's psyche, and how that will impact on a community. We need a targeted, intensive, proactive approach to dealing with those situations.

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