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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 15 Feb 2001

Vol. 530 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Disadvantaged Areas Initiative.

I thank the Minister of State in whose constituency Ringsend and Pearse Street are located. He has responsibility for this matter and will not be unaware of what I am about to say. The city development board of Dublin Corporation, which is comprised of Government Departments, the social partners at Dublin City Hall, the six special policy commission chairpersons and the Lord Mayor as well as community representatives, is a broadly based organisation. They wrote to the principal officer, social policy unit, Department of the Taoiseach, in respect of the areas that were to be included in RAPID. I will read the text of that letter and to ask the Minister of State if it is possible at this late stage to include Ringsend, an area he and I know very well, in the area that has been extracted from the south inner city, that is, the Pearse Street area, and to have those two areas linked together for the purposes of this programme. The letter reads as follows:

We live in a time of unprecedented prosperity and progress and in a city that is in many ways booming. Yet we know that for many of our citizens poverty and social deprivation still exists. For this reason this city needs to tackle social and economic deprivation, to address social inclusion and to offer hope to communities still afflicted, in the midst of good times, with the spectre of poverty and social disadvantage, to the benefit of all our citizens and our citywide economy.

We recognize and applaud the work and commitment of communities and action groups that continue to seek to improve the reality of daily life for people in these communities, in this our city.

The Government in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness have stated their intention to target resources and funding into 25 of the most disadvantaged communities in the nation. This targeting will involve agencies of the state and communities collaborating to maximize the impact they can make on the causes and manifestation of poverty and disadvantage within these areas. As the Development Board for the City it is our wish to see the greater integration of resources and their application to the areas of greatest need. This must happen in partnership and must seek to avail of the knowledge and experience of local voluntary, community and business groups who are committed to tackling needs within these communities. It must build upon the work already begun through the Drugs Task Forces, Integrated Area Plans, and Area Partnerships. The task of ensuring better ways to eliminate poverty and social disadvantage is best achieved by co-operation and integration of all those working to the common good.

Dublin City Development Board, conscious that Government must now identify the 25 targeted areas referred to in Section 3.6 of the PPF, declares that the objective evidence of the concentration of disadvantage and social deprivation requires that government include the following areas of Dublin city;

North Inner City

Finglas

Ballymun

South Inner City

Ringsend

Dublin North Docklands

Ballyfermot

Cherry Orchard

Crumlin

Kimmage

Inchicore/Kilmainham

Ballybough

Darndale/Priorswood

Stoneybatter

Further details on the basis of selection of these areas are contained in an appendix to the letter I have quoted. The letter continues:

The City Development Board requests the Interdepartmental Committee to include these areas on the basis of need in the list of the 25 areas to be targeted.

Will the Minister of State address the recommendation in the letter which calls for the inclusion of the south inner city areas? The area ultimately selected, the Pearse Street area, is a much narrower definition of that. The Pearse Street area is contained within the area of operation of the Dublin Docklands Development Board, as is Ringsend. While Ringsend may under some criteria not have the same level of deprivation as that of the Pearse Street area, nevertheless, deprivation still exists in accordance with the criteria laid down. To avoid a division between the two communities who qualify for consideration under the Dublin Docklands development area, on the one hand, and in some other respects, it would be socially cohesive and effective to have Ringsend linked to the Pearse Street area for the purposes of the application of the RAPID programme, which the Labour Party welcomes.

I thank Deputy Quinn for affording me the opportunity to clarify the selection process used to identify the 25 most disadvantaged urban areas to be targeted under the new RAPID programme. As the Deputy is no doubt aware, the RAPID programme was launched by the Taoiseach and me last Thursday, 8 February 2001. RAPID stands for Revitalising Areas by Planning, Investment and Development. This programme fulfils a commitment in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to identify the 25 most disadvantaged areas in the country and develop a focus across the social inclusion measures in the national development plan and target that investment at the identified areas.

The 25 most disadvantaged areas in the State were identified using objective criteria which were agreed with the social partners. These criteria were the Trutz Haase deprivation index supported by data relating to the location of significant rented local authority housing and schools designated as disadvantaged by the Department of Education and Science.

The Trutz Haase index of relative affluence and deprivation was first developed to facilitate the designation of areas of disadvantage in preparation for the operational programme for local, urban and rural development and the establishment of area based partnership companies. The original index was updated using the latest available information from the 1996 Census of Population. The index identifies the relative level of deprivation in communities based on the census information. The geographical unit used is the district electoral division, which breaks down counties into manageable and coherent areas. The Haase index deliberately includes variables beyond measures of material deprivation which capture some of the structural weaknesses within local communities. The index is considered a reliable indicator of relative levels of disadvantage.

The 11 census variables used in the index are (1) the percentage of the population in the unskilled manual class; (2) the percentage of the population in the professional classes; (3) the percentage of the adult population leaving school at 15 years or below; (4) the percentage of the adult population leaving school at 20 years or above; (5) the percentage of adult population with no or primary education only; (6) the percentage of adult population with third level education; (7) unemployment rate; (8) proportion of long-term unemployed in the labour force; (9) proportion of lone parents; (10) the percentage of those at work engaged in small farming and (11) age dependency rate. Those which were categorised as the most deprived 5% of all DEDs were selected for the RAPID programme. The Ringsend area is not within the 5% most disadvantaged areas in the country.

The list of areas obtained through this exercise was examined in relation to the locations of significant rented local authority housing. Significant local authority housing schemes in which at least 75% of houses were rented were added where not already included. Data on schools designated as disadvantaged by the Department of Education and Science was used to confirm that the most deprived urban areas had been identified by the selection process.

Population size of the areas selected range around an average of 9,000. The selection process is fully objective and stands up to all scrutiny. I know the Ringsend area very well and, like Deputy Quinn, I represent the area. I would like it to be included but, unfortunately, it did not meet the criteria set down, which is the 5% worst and most deprived communities in the country. I gather that if we were to link Pearse Street and Ringsend we would not have been able to include either of them. We had a choice. It was a difficult decision because obviously one wishes to look after one's constituents. However, I have been told on many occasions that the area does not fit into the 5% category. Some of the communities included communities from St. Theresa's Gardens, Fatima Mansions and so on, which received a great deal of fame recently, are suffering from severe social neglect over many years. I am pleased Deputy Quinn welcomes the programme. If we all work together, it can make a significant impact in helping communities to have the same choices and opportunities as everyone else.

As the Deputy has raised the issue, I will again seek to have the area included.

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