Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before rolling out this approach, the first thing that needs to happen is a review of the north-east inner city initiative. I raised this with the Taoiseach's predecessor. I have been asking for a long time that progress be measured to establish what works and what does not work. The approaches that are established to have worked should be extended as other Deputies have suggested. We must bear in mind that the initiative in the inner city does not deal with housing or the deplorable living circumstances of many of our citizens. It has not successfully addressed the fact we have a real gap in addiction services. We have a diverse population but have not got the intercultural model right. An investigation into how the initiative engages with the community is needed, and especially whether and how it fosters the necessary community development model. The boundaries of the initiative need to be examined as we have a perverse situation where part of the north-east inner city is covered by this initiative and the other part is not. That never made any sense and has caused significant local difficulties. I have raised this many times. The north-east inner city still does not have a drug and alcohol task force. It is extraordinary that in the very place where the heroin epidemic sadly first took root, it has now almost been two years that no drug and alcohol task force is operating. It is disgraceful.

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