Joan Burton
Ceist:4. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach his plans to provide an update on the Dublin north inner city task force; and the terms of reference, chair and timescale. [4574/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 14 February 2017
Ceisteanna (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Gerry Adams
Ceist:5. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the north inner city ministerial task force, which he chairs. [5744/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Micheál Martin
Ceist:6. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the task force on Dublin inner city. [5819/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:7. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach the status of the interim report from the Dublin north inner city task force. [6038/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Seán Haughey
Ceist:8. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Taoiseach when the Dublin city task force report will be published. [7133/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (27 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 8, inclusive, together.
Last July, the Government launched a major initiative for the Dublin north inner city with the establishment of a ministerial task force to oversee the long-term social and economic regeneration of the area. To support the work of the ministerial task force, Mr Kieran Mulvey was appointed to engage with the local community groups, representatives and other interests and to report back with specific recommendations. The terms of reference for this work were published in July and these include making recommendations on specific measures to support the long-term economic and social regeneration of the area, including in the areas of community safety and policing; early intervention programmes for children; education and training; employment opportunities; housing; improving the physical environment; tackling the impact of drugs; and community development, including family, youth and recreation activity. Part of the work involves reviewing and making recommendations on structures and procedures to ensure better co-ordination of statutory and non-statutory programmes in the area. A number of short-term measures were announced to help the community address some of the immediate challenges facing it, and these have been progressed by the responsible Departments and agencies.
Those Members close to the area will know that Mr. Kieran Mulvey has spent a lot of time in the area since he started his work last September. He has walked the area many times, visiting projects and residents, and he has engaged with the business community, local community and political representatives. Throughout this extensive period of consultation, he has formed his views on what is needed to regenerate the area and help the community of the north inner city. He briefed the ministerial task force in late December, setting out the main areas of recommendations. As promised, he met with members of the community on 1 February and set out the broad outline of the report, including the main areas of recommendations, providing time and space for the community to respond. I understand that was a very positive engagement and was well attended, with strong contributions covering a broad range of issues of importance to the community. Mr. Mulvey has finalised his report, which will be published later this week. I expect the Government to move quickly to respond to the report's recommendations and it will work with all the people involved to ensure a properly resourced implementation plan is put in place.
There are five questions. I suggest that Members pose their questions and that the Taoiseach give a composite response. Is that agreed? Agreed.
I understand Mr. Kieran Mulvey presented the interim report to members of the local community just very recently. I have been told by quite a number of people that while people very much welcome the fact that the report has been issued at all, they have serious concerns over the fact that no mention was made of the investment of money to implement the various proposals, some of which are very good. Can the Taoiseach give an undertaking to the House that these proposals will be fully funded? There were not even any costs in regard to most of them. We know there was about €1 million extra allocated last year and carried over into this year for much-needed sports facilities, for instance. Can the Taoiseach state what will happen to the many iconic buildings in the area, particularly the old Rutland Street school, which is now standing empty for a long time? There seemed to be a difficulty with the task force accepting that historic buildings with a very prominent history in community life may not be restored. Will the Taoiseach commit to addressing these issues?
The other issue is that Mr. Kieran Mulvey suggested very strongly - I support his suggestion - that the employers in the IFSC should become responsible for providing employment opportunities, training and education to local people. Despite agreement on this, there is no mechanism in the report by which to follow it up.
The Taoiseach will recall that the task force was set up after a spate of shootings in the north inner city but, of course, the social and other difficulties facing people in the area date back decades. We welcome the setting up of the task force and Mr. Kieran Mulvey's recommendation of initiatives and interventions needed immediately in the north inner city. The Taoiseach will recall that in July 2016, he met the community representatives and stakeholders. I understand he made a commitment on the refurbishment of Rutland Street school. Apparently, that is not now being delivered on. The Taoiseach also made a commitment that this would be a community-led initiative.
The community came together and developed a substantive submission that was presented to Mr. Mulvey. The community was under the impression, or at least believed, that it would have access to this report, but it has not had that. Community members have been told that it was with the task force or was going to the Cabinet. There is a rumour going around - maybe it is a false one - that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, met the business community about the Mulvey report, but did not meet the community group that made the substantive submission. Will the Taoiseach provide some clarity on this matter?
I am familiar with the inner city area. It is a community that has been let down by politicians and the elites for a long time.
By criminals and thugs.
There is generational poverty, neglect-----
Criminal activity.
-----and so on. When will the Mulvey report be given to the community, will there be a period of consultation and will there be a timelined and funded implementation plan?
I have a question, but I thought that was classic from Deputy Adams, to make the allegation - "There is a rumour going around" about the Minister, Deputy Donohoe - and then ask the Taoiseach to clarify.
I did not.
Deputy Adams did.
Many people are concerned and anxious that this initiative is more about giving the appearance of doing something than being a step change in engagement with the local community. To a certain extent, we have seen evidence of planned-for spending being repackaged and the main reports have been delayed.
I wish to address two aspects. First, the one consistent demand from the community has been for the development of a new community facility in the old Rutland Street school buildings. It is an historic location and its development would be symbolic of faith in the long-term spirit of the community, yet Dublin City Council has announced that the likely cost is too high. Will the Taoiseach agree to step in and ensure that the project can go ahead?
Second, many areas need systematic planning and support. It should not require high-profile murders before the State pays attention. In 2011, the Taoiseach abolished the role of the Minister of State for local development and the Government got rid of the many area-based schemes targeted at the most disadvantaged communities. The schemes had an excellent record and delivered substantial improvements. When I met the local community, the constant criticism was that many of the community supports that it had enjoyed for more than a decade had been whittled away in recent years. That was a mistake and the community suffered as a result. In particular, the RAPID programme has been undermined. There was much behind it. It was a yardstick by which Government investment was allocated. It should be properly restored nationally.
Will the Taoiseach assure the House that none of the funding for the inner city allocations will come from reducing allocations to other areas of the city?
Although the catalyst for this process, which had cross-party support in the House, was probably the spate of gangland killings that blighted and gave a negative view of this remarkable area, given the day that is in it and in the teeth of the controversy about An Garda Síochána, it is an appropriate moment to say that the Garda has done terrific work on this issue. This is coming directly from the community. We should say it on the day that Garda morale has been impacted by other developments. There are exemplary gardaí doing work on the ground.
I am interested in asking the Taoiseach about the implementation of the plan. He stated that it would be published at the end of the week. What will the Government do with it then? What is the implementation strategy? When we discussed this at the beginning, the idea was that we would have all-party buy-in and a commitment to fixed resources over time so that the plan would be an exemplar to be replicated in other socially disadvantaged areas. What is the Government going to do once the plan is published? What is the implementation procedure? Does it involve the House debating, deciding and committing ourselves over a number of Dáileanna to ensure that the proposals are implemented?
I understand that Mr. Mulvey updated the local community on 1 February and that it made 150 submissions. The community is anxious to get a response to those submissions, but my information is that the commitments given at that meeting were vague and uncosted, there was a rehearsing of old themes and no new real commitments were made. There was nothing tangible on housing, community facilities, the integration of new communities, youth services or supports for the elderly, all of the issues that need to be addressed, and there was a reliance on previous commitments. Most importantly, no commitment on additional funding in 2017 was given. If there are to be new projects and initiatives, new funding is needed. The Government must be conscious of this.
There has been a suggestion about renaming the north inner city. That is a matter for the local community, but I am unsure as to whether it is a good idea.
"Seán O'Casey".
The north inner city is an historic place, and the north inner city is just that, the north inner city. I will leave that up to the local community, but it is not a good idea.
The report will be published at the end of this week. The November 2016 deadline has already been missed, but I am glad that the report will be published.
I am long enough around here to know how these things work. There is a crisis, the Government has to be seen to be doing something, there is a media frenzy, a task force is set up, and once the media frenzy ends, the interest from and commitment by Government wanes. I hope that is not the case in this instance and that there is a serious programme of implementation. I appreciate the Taoiseach's commitment to the project and I hope that he will be there to implement it.
The report will be published on Thursday. It is very comprehensive. The outline that was given by Mr. Mulvey to the community on 1 February was not for it to have all of the detail, but to reflect generally on the improvements that were being recommended. For instance, there is €5 million being spent there on smaller issues like the multi-use games pitch on Sheriff Street and the resurfacing of the existing pitches at the-----
That is the road to-----
-----Sheriff youth club and the Larkin community college. These are works that have been going on since 2016 since we went down there before. As Deputy Burton is aware, there is quite a number of communities that have been receiving moneys of smaller amounts over the years. That work continues, of course.
The initial estimate for Rutland Street was €2 million. It is now-----
How much?
€2 million. It is now at €12 million. It is a very substantial difference. Obviously, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is looking to see how we can deal with this.
The Taoiseach was defending the rise in the estimate of the children's hospital.
The Taoiseach without interruption, please.
The projections for the project have grown from an initial estimate of under €2 million to over €12 million now. It is an important building. It is owned by DCC, which does not intend to dispose of it. We are working to see how best we can accommodate that and deal with it, but it is a substantial increase in the estimates, as the Deputy is aware.
Deputy Haughey mentioned the renaming of the area. It is a rebranding, as it were. Okay, the Deputy does not agree with it. It is to rebrand it without losing its identity and it is to be carried out by the community itself. It may wish to do this, it may not wish to do it.
Deputy Howlin is right in talking about the Garda superintendent involved there. He has done a superb job with his members, both in dealing with understanding who the people are - their names, their families, their involvement in the community - and also dealing, of course, with the more serious issue of crime and gangland crime. That is one of the reasons why the Fitzgibbon Street station is an iconic building just up the road from Croke Park. The intention is to re-open Fitzgibbon Street station as a really central Garda station within a stone's throw of half a dozen murders. There is some preparatory work to be done on that. The board of works has carried out its estimates and I expect that to move ahead shortly.
There is a whole list of smaller things that are important. Examples include the improvement works at the swimming pool, the public lighting upgrade, the painting of public lighting, signposts and all of these things to improve the general look of the area. This has been a central feature of what communities have said - broken footpaths, windows smashed, places that are overgrown and derelict - in terms of making an improvement in all of those things.
I refer, for example, to the Mountjoy Square railings, the restoration and the improvements, the public domain improvements, including roads resurfacing and realignment, vacant sites, hoardings, the Sheriff Street recreation centre equipment upgrade and sporting facilities for many of the communities such as indoor pitches, all-weather pitches, boxing clubs and all of the various measures. It will all be published on Thursday. Deputy Martin inquired about how it will be implemented. The intention is that it will be done by Dublin City Council, DCC, and some of the groups themselves. The implementation plan will be followed faithfully. There is money involved and sizeable allocations will be made to improve the general lot of the area in the coming years.
Will it be additional to the existing allocation of the city council?
Additional moneys are being allocated but the funding will not all be additional because some moneys have been allocated to existing programmes. We will proceed with the development of Rutland Street school and Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, which are two major iconic buildings. There is involvement with the corporates from the IFSC and interest has been expressed by the National College of Ireland in working with disadvantaged children through its schools programme. Quite a deal of activity has taken place recently to give everybody an opportunity, from Grangegorman on one side to the National College of Ireland on the other, flanked by the IFSC, together with the improvements throughout the area. The streets are quite wide in the area and they were well built initially but many of them have fallen into disrepair. That is all part of the general improvement of the environment and presentation of the locality. The schools are working very hard to bring about a situation where every child in the north inner city gets a real opportunity.