Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am a member of four significant regeneration projects within the Dublin 8 area: those for Oliver Bond House, Dolphin House and Emmet Road and the Donore Project Consultative Forum. There is scant and limited mention of regeneration in the damning housing report so I will inform the Minister of the communities' experience to date. Oliver Bond House and Dolphin House are established complexes that are mortifyingly overdue for regeneration. They have now been in progress for 20 years and it will be at least another ten before they are completed. The Minister, the Department, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and the local authority must understand that these formerly proud and tight-knit communities struggle to maintain cohesion in the face of an interminable wait for decent modern housing as opposed to their present utterly Dickensian conditions. In 2017, the European Committee of Social Rights found human rights violations regarding the substandard social housing in Ireland. Sewage, contaminated water, dampness and persistent mould raised concerns for habitability. Dolphin House residents continue to report sewage invasions years after these problems were first identified. I have personally witnessed these conditions and have made representations for reasonable repairs to these homes. It is very concerning that there is no national timeframe for the refurbishment of local authority housing stock.

I commend the dedicated volunteers and project co-ordinators who desperately try to hold communities together as people lose hope given the unacceptable probable 30-year timeline for regeneration. They will be pensioners by the time regeneration is complete. Where is the urgency in that?

The Minister must prioritise in any revised regeneration blueprint. It is not all about bricks and mortar. He must determine how to keep a community together and prevent fragmentation. He must ring-fence funding for essential repairs in the meantime to make conditions bearable in the here and now. We should not have to beg exhaustively. Proper provision must include the front-loading of adequate community facilities including community centres, sports pitches, leisure centres and crèches. Adolescents in our inner city face harrowing challenges in their environment due to inequality and disadvantage. The term "age-friendly city" must be expanded to include our youth, who have no input into the amenities and features in their surroundings and are left with few safe activities to avoid falling into troublesome behaviour. They will be the first tenants of these regenerated areas but they have no voice in their communities. Their voices will add a layer of ownership and responsibility and reinforce, protect and respect the area. We need teen-friendly public realms and cities. We need them to own their area and to belong.

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