David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators who took part and the two Ministers of State who attended the debate. They were quite inappropriate in respect of the motion but I hope they will take back some of what was said here to their colleagues in Cabinet. I am very gratified that the Government has decided not to oppose the motion so it goes through. This means it is still an active idea. I believe very strongly that a central Government plan is necessary.

Nobody on the Government side took up the points I was making on the Living City initiative and other issues. It was just blank. Georgian houses in Dublin are between 400 and 500 sq m yet there is a limit of 230 sq m. Mr. Graham Hickey of the Dublin Civic Trust said that "even modest Georgians built in the 1830s and 1840s on streets like Belvedere Place, Nelson Street, Sherrard Street – the very houses that desperately need designation – are in the order of 230-300 sq m." This is in the aftermath of the abolition of the national conservation grant in 2011. The house in North Frederick Street that I mentioned in this House and that collapsed a few weeks ago would be excluded. One would get no help for that. Look at Aldborough House on the north side, which until recently was in the hands of the Government. The lead was ripped off the roof and it is in a state of complete dereliction. The Irish Music Rights Organisation wanted to take it over but it found that it did not have the money. According to Mr. Hickey, Georgian houses would only be eligible for inclusion in the scheme if they were subdivided and sold off as apartments, in other words, the tenementalisation of Dublin. We have the commercial aspect. Dublin Civic Trust said that "effectively, any dodgy modern unit, shed or otherwise, can be incentivised for a capital upgrade for retail or service use, anywhere in Dublin city, or the other cities, within the designated areas".

Dublin traffic is a complete mess. They should have put in an underground. Now we have this business where the city manager is determined to drive motor cars out of the city. I live in the city. Have I no rights? I appeal to the Minister of State to take this back to his Government colleagues. As is the case in Jerusalem, they should have different coloured number plates for people who live in the inner city who would be allowed to cross through College Green and the other blocked areas. It is absurd to discriminate against people who live in the north inner city.

There is a huge amount of dereliction, particularly on the north side. Dublin City Council is investigating 630 sites that could warrant inclusion. At the moment, it only has 46. That is how active it is. It is absurd.

Litter is another big mess. It was privatised and companies fight like the Mafia, burning each other's trucks out. There are different dates and times for collections, waste is collected in plastic bags that split and waste is spread all over the street. One experiences the noise from the vehicles when they drive up and down residential streets at all hours of the day and night. There are rehabilitative schemes for drug addicts in the north inner city. I have great compassion for drug addicts but they are all dumped in the north inner city. Practically every week, a new rehabilitative outlet is dumped along Parnell Street. We were lied to in this House about Fitzgibbon Street Garda station. We were told it was closed for rehabilitation. It was closed to be turned into a home for homeless people. Again, I have great sympathy for homeless people but we need a police station. People from around this House have all said that we need the reinvigoration of the police in the inner city. What are they doing? They are closing it down and making it a place for the homeless.

With regard to the Living City initiative, I was the needle-point of this, pushing and pushing until I got an agreement from the Minister for Finance. The will of the Oireachtas is frustrated by an anonymous civil servant who said that this is not for mansion taxes. In other words, anything over 230 sq m - anything larger than a three-bedroomed bungalow - will not qualify for this.

Everybody echoed what I said about O'Connell Street - knicker shops, fast food joints, tatty souvenir shops and derelict sites. The Metropole, which was a wonderful building, was demolished. What do we have in its place? We have British Home Stores; 1916, my eye, we are still a bloody colony. What will happen to the Clerys building? Vulture capitalists from the US came in and made a profit of €19 million. Shame on Gordon Brothers and shame on the Irish people who are implicit in this. It is a disgrace. I was talking this morning to a man who gave 43 years of service to Clerys but who is out on his arse without a single penny in terms of a pension. I listened yesterday to Alex Findlater, a decent man who had 26 shops across Dublin and a headquarters in O'Connell Street. It was pulled down and an ignorant, barbaric concrete monstrosity put up in its place. He at least took an interest in the welfare and well-being of his employees.