Dáil debates

Tuesday, 14 July 2020

Ceisteanna - Questions

Regeneration Projects

3:40 pm

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the role of his Department in the north east inner city initiative. [15758/20]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Mulvey report, Dublin North East Inner City - Creating a Brighter Future, commissioned by the Government and published in February 2017, contained recommendations for the social and economic regeneration of Dublin's north-east inner city, NEIC. This report has been further supplemented by the publication of the NEIC strategic plan 2020 to 2022, which is available onwww.neic.ie

In June 2017, the Government appointed an independent chairperson to the NEIC programme implementation board. Members of the board include representatives from relevant Departments and agencies, business and the local community. The board is assisted in its work by six subgroups: enhancing policing; maximising education, training and employment opportunities; family well-being; enhancing community well-being and the physical landscape; substance use, misuse, inclusion and health; and alignment of services.

The board and its subgroups continue to meet on a monthly basis to oversee and progress the implementation of the Mulvey report and the next strategic plan for 2020 to 2022. Officials from my Department work closely with the board, the subgroups and the dedicated programme office based on Sean McDermott Street. The chairperson of the board reports to an oversight group of senior officials chaired by the Secretary General of my Department. This group, which has met 11 times, ensures strong and active participation by all relevant Departments and agencies and deals with any barriers or issues highlighted by the board. The Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality will provide political oversight of the NEIC initiative.

The Government is committed to supporting and investing in the north-east inner city community and ensuring that the board has the necessary resources to achieve its targets and fulfil its ambition. To this end, the Government made available €6.5 million in funding for the initiative in 2020. Some highlights of what the board has delivered to date include an increased Garda presence in the area, with the Garda community support van, supporting a focus on community policing, particularly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic; funding provided for establishing a Garda project focused on drug-related intimidation, which commenced in the area, continues to have positive effects; a full-time intercultural development co-ordinator was employed for the NEIC; continued operation of Ireland's first social inclusion hub in the NEIC; funding provided for the homeless case management team and a residential stabilisation programme. Funding was also provided to a career local employment action partnership, LEAP, which supports young jobseekers into work placements and employment, as well to establish the City Connects programme and a local early learning initiative. A green ribbon project was rolled out for environmental clean-up and litter prevention in partnership with local residents, and a comprehensive programme of sport and well-being activities has continued to support local people even throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

Progress reports on the NEIC initiative are available on for 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Government remains committed to supporting and investing in the north-east inner city community and in ensuring that the chairperson and programme implementation board have the necessary resources to help make the area a better place in which to work and live.

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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In addition to everything the Taoiseach has recalled regarding the setting up of this inner city initiative, it should also be recalled that the north-east inner city was caught in the grip of what was referred to as a "gangland feud" at the time. He will recall that lives had been lost, the community, including children, was traumatised by the incidents they had been witnessed and at the time there, was an understanding that there had to be an intervention that was wider than a policing or criminal justice response. That response had to be holistic, progressive and recognise the history and the reality of intergenerational poverty and the very specific social circumstances of the north-east inner city. By the way, I do not argue that the inner city of Dublin is unique in that regard; sadly, it is not.

I argue at this stage for a review of this initiative. I had hoped to hear more energy and commitment in the Taoiseach's response to this issue. This should never turn into a box-ticking exercise or something on which there is routine reporting. If we get this initiative right in the inner city of Dublin, then we will have the potential to get it right elsewhere as well. First, we have to establish if the approach being adopted is working. Is the project making a substantive difference to the lives and generations of the people who live in the inner city?

I was struck last week when I was listening to the Taoiseach talking about drug use and misuse. He very correctly spoke of things such as resilience, self-confidence and respect, all those things to which we all subscribe. What was missing from his analysis, however, was any real appreciation or recognition that poverty is systemic, that inequality is toxic and that communities in which generation after generation suffer deprivation and marginalisation will experience real consequences. One of the consequences that can be measured is drug addiction and drug misuse. We, therefore, need to review this initiative. The boundaries of the project need to encapsulate the north-west inner city as well the north-east inner city. Critically, we need to go to the community, measure and ask if this project is making a difference and what needs to change and what needs to be enhanced.

The Government is commited to supporting and investing in the north east inner city community and in ensuring that the board has the necessary resources to achieve its targets and fulfill its ambitions. To this end, the Governmetn has made available €6.5 million in funding for the initiative in 2020. Some highlights of what the board has delivered to date in 2020 include: increased Garda presence in the area, the Garda community support van supporting a focus on community policing, particularly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic; funding was provided to establish a Garda project focused on drugs-related intimidation, which commenced in the area and continues to have positive benefits; a full-time intercultural development co-ordinator employed for the NEC; continued operation in the NEC of Ireland's first social inclusion hub; funding provided for the homeless case management team; funding provided for residential stablilisation programme; funding provided to local career leap supporting young jobseeker's into work placements and in employemtn; and funding provided to establish the city connects programmes; funding provided to the local early learning initiative; a green ribbon project rolling out environmental clean-up and litter prevention, in partnership with local residents; and a comprehensive programme of sport and well-being activities that has continued to support local -

3:50 pm

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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4 o’clock

First of all, I would never see something like this as a box-ticking exercise. All my life I have been committed to the idea of dealing with the vulnerable, those living in poor conditions and those in disadvantaged communities. For example, I believe the RAPID programme of earlier years was an effective multisectoral multidepartmental approach to dealing with urban disadvantage and urban issues. The forerunner of that programme, the drugs task force areas programme, likewise took a holistic approach to development within particular communities with some success. Education and early intervention at childcare level and in the early years of primary education were the key with higher resources being allocated to the pupil-teacher ratio in schools in such areas. Now the DEIS programme has replaced all of that. Our party introduced DEIS some time ago to target resources where they were most needed and most effective.

I will talk to the board about the idea of commissioning a review. In addition, the new Minister with responsibility for community affairs will be looking at this in terms of the broader application of this model to other areas.

One area we need to integrate into this programme is housing. I remember touring the area with Senator Mary Fitzpatrick and meeting all the groups. There is a need to look at the housing part of this to assist the local community as part of the wider level of supports that are available. The Secretary General of my Department chairs the oversight group. The chairperson and the board report on a regular basis to the Secretary General, so we are keeping a close eye on this with a view to ensuring the 54 actions are implemented.

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome that the Taoiseach is open to a review. I am keen to acknowledge the substantial amount of work done by the board and I commend those involved on it. Nevertheless, this review has to be about the community. It has to be about the people who live in the kind of atrocious housing conditions that the Taoiseach has himself witnessed. Should the Taoiseach go into any of these blocks of flats and ask himself whether this is how our citizens should be living in 2020, the clear answer would be "No". Poor housing is not only a consequence of disadvantage and poverty, but it is also a driver of further inequality and marginalisation. I have lost count of the number of homes and flats I have been in that do not have room for a kitchen table or a place for the children to do their homework or for the family to eat a meal. That is scandalous in 2020. That needs to be wired in.

I wish to draw the Taoiseach's attention to another thing that should concern him - it certainly concerns me. Goal 4 of the national drug and alcohol strategy sets out the importance of enabling communities to participate in the shaping of decisions that affect them. Community participation is critical to driving interventions and solutions. In the north inner city the HSE is actively undermining this. In fact, the HSE is acting to remove participation workers from the north-east and north-west inner city. I cannot overstate how wrong this decision is and I ask the Taoiseach to examine it. I will write to him on the specifics of it. Will the Taoiseach intervene and prevent that from happening?

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy McDonald should write to me on that. I will talk to the Minister for Health on the point she has made and on what she was saying. I am unsure of the background. Deputy McDonald is suggesting that the HSE is undermining community participation. We will get that looked at.

I have gone into some of the flat complexes with Senator Mary Fitzpatrick. I agree with Deputy McDonald that the conditions were poor and tight with no space. There were significant levels of respiratory conditions. I remember coming out of the Greek Street flats one day and looking across at modern student accommodation. The contrast was stark although some of that is historical. I will talk to the Minister with responsibility for housing on that and to Dublin City Council to discuss the various programmes on refurbishing and improving the quality of living conditions in some of the complexes that I visited. Without question there is room for improvement there. I will talk to the Secretary General about a review of the overall plan for the north-eastern inner city and how we can add to it.

Photo of Mary Lou McDonaldMary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Greek Street flats are in the north-west inner city. They are not captured by the catchment area. I am not saying this to catch out the Taoiseach at all. I am simply raising it to reiterate the point about the catchment area for the north-east and north-west inner city. A line was arbitrarily drawn. I hope that as part of the review which I hope will be commissioned, those responsible look at the boundaries and accept a north inner city area of Dublin without artificial distinctions that are not helpful to landing on the right solutions.