The housing crisis has caused misery for countless people across Ballyfermot and Drimnagh. Many are stuck paying exorbitant rents, unable to save for a home deposit. Some remain living with family, delaying their independence longer than desired.

Some remain dependent on family longer than planned, while others contemplate leaving Ireland due to uncertain prospects.

Every person deserves the right to a stable and affordable home. A shift in government leadership is necessary to untangle and reverse years of ineffective housing policies.

A Sinn Féin government would take a different approach to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We set out in our 2024 Alternative Budget that a Sinn Féin government would deliver greater investment, increase targets to match demand, cut out red tape which is resulting in delays of up to 2 years before a brick is laid, use new technology to build, speed up planning and introduce changes to tax code to incentivise building of affordable homes.

A team of Sinn Féin councillors will work hard on the council to tackle the housing crisis too. We'd work to deliver affordable purchase homes through Local Councils and Approved Housing Bodies at prices people can genuinely afford. Local councils and Approved Housing Bodies will deliver the new affordable homes in Sinn Féin’s government plan, on public land.

Systemic change around housing in Ireland is needed now due to current mismanagement of funds. The end-year figures for 2023 show an exchequer surplus of €1.2 billion, while the government fell short of its social housing targets by 2,700 homes.

The State must take an immediate and proactive role in delivering social and affordable homes - state land can be used to build thousands of affordable homes that are sold or rented at cost. The Ó Cualann developments in Ballymun in Dublin, Ardmore in Waterford and Knocknaheeney in Cork are great examples of a model that works. 

We don’t have to look too far to see that what is happening in Dublin is not the norm. In Paris, one quarter of its residents now live in public housing; an increase from 13% in the late 1990s. This is part of a programme, championed by left-wing parties in the city who believe that the people who produce the riches of a city - the teachers, the street cleaners, the nurses, the students; all have a right to live in and contribute to the city. 

Another model that we must look to, is Denmark’s socially democratic approach to building and providing housing for its citizens. Since 1919, Denmark’s national public housing system – which is open to all – has been managed by non-profit housing developments.

In Aarhus, Denmark’s second city, developers who wish to invest in the land are required to submit a proposal to state how their development will benefit the community. This is all done in consultation with the community and it works due to intervention at council level, proper governance and accountability.  

I am proud to tell people that I was raised in the flats. The flats were the springboard for my family. But I am also one of those many young people forced back into the box bedroom, like two-thirds of young Irish people. We are in a housing lock-out. I will fight tooth and nail for the Council to show more ambition in housing delivery.

I will fight for public housing on public land. The long-term goal of the Council, and the state, should be to establish a publicly financed and built housing model similar to the Vienna model. Sustainable, well-designed, rent-controlled, life-long tenancies, and shielding low and middle-income earners from a dysfunctioning market. I know it will take a long time to achieve, but we must elect people to start now if we are to lift many in our city out of insecurity. A public housing model will also allow us to end reliance on the HAP scheme.

Empty social housing stock is taking months to be refurbished after being vacant. This is unacceptable, especially with significant social housing waiting lists. In my dad's flats, two out of the six flats have been vacant for more than a year. I will push the Council to fund more directly employed staff, rather than contractors, whose task is to renovate social housing, with minimum target times to re-let properties.

The next city development plan commences in 2028. I will work intensively to ensure that it is ambitious in increasing social and affordable homes. This should also include an emphasis on one-bedroom provision, as there is an increasing number of single people and young couples who are unable to find housing due to the under-supply of this. There is a need to address the gap between delivery and need and prioritise development alongside high-frequency public transport and active travel.

It is shocking when you look up over shop fronts in Dublin to see how much upstairs space is vacant, with very little uptake on government schemes. The Council needs a strategy on how to unlock these spaces and approach property owners to unlock these spaces for housing. It unlocks more housing, but also livens up our streets and makes our city and village centres a place to live in, rather than just go to.

We need to end vulture funds investing in Ireland. I will push my party to fight this battle in Ireland and at a European level. We also need to end land hoarding and speculation. I will challenge the Council to use its powers of compulsory purchase because, in a housing crisis, no land in our city should be left overgrown and unused for the sake of wealth gain.

On a related note, the Council is struggling to implement the tenant-in-situ scheme. I know anecdotally that delays have led to willing landlords pulling out of property sales to the Council. Again, one of those things that's great on paper but poor in implementation.

The shortage of housing is something I see every day when I call to people’s houses - adults living with their parents into their twenties and thirties, sometimes with their own kids, or in precarious rented housing. People feel like their lives are on hold, that they can’t move forward with anything until they have the security of their own place, where they know they won’t be evicted because their landlord wants to sell. And the shortage of housing means people are forced to pay huge amounts in rent, so even with good jobs they can’t save for their own places.

Cost rental housing - where the rent is below the private market rate, and you have security of tenure - is an important part of the solution. It makes housing affordable for people who earn too much for social housing. We just started building cost-rental in the last few years, and every development is heavily oversubscribed.

We need to build a lot more, so everyone has a cheaper, more secure alternative to the private rental market. It makes much more sense than subsidising private landlords with HAP, or giving grants to developers or buyers to make private purchases cheaper. If we are paying for housing, we should own what we’re paying for.

There’s a bottleneck at the moment in building homes like this, because most public housing is being built and managed through non-profit housing associations and AHBs, rather than directly by the council. On the whole, they are doing a good job, but they have to borrow money to build, and many associations can’t take on any more debt. The state should provide direct funding to allow them to build.

We have to build a lot more, but we have to make sure that we build in the right places, and provide the amenities to support this new housing. All around the country we can see housing built far from shops and schools, so people are completely dependent on cars in their daily life. In Dublin, we should be building close to good public transport links, like the Luas, Metrolink, or bus corridors. But we have to build the support systems for this housing at the same time, rather than trying to add it later.

At the moment, Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council are planning the City Edge project, tens of thousands of homes to be built around the Long Mile Road and Kylemore Road on former industrial estates. This could be a great project, on the Luas and near the proposed Kylemore Road DART+ South West station.

So far, the planners are making all the right noises about providing shopping centres and parks and other facilities in the development. As councillors, we will have to make sure that these are all ready when people move in, so people can build a community where they live, not just a roof over their heads.

Push for refurbishment of current unoccupied council properties and for council led housing projects on zoned land rather than focusing solely on the construction and of private and commercial properties lost to the inflated rental markets and to large funds making multiple purchases.

I’d actively push for the council to rethink how they are currently assessing planning applications and to focus more on the needs for housing. Council led housing projects would lend itself to lowering costs of housing purchases in the affordable housing schemes.

As much as the number of housing is important, the type of housing we build is as important.

One of the reasons I left the Green Party is because my then Green colleagues voted to down a motion to take the O'Devaney public land back into public ownership. I voted in favour of the motion. I am fighting with the community to keep all the land on the old St Michael's site into public ownership.

We need to keep our public land to build public housing because we need to get affordable and cost rental housing solutions and we need to borrow on longer terms from financial institutions. At every opportunity I get I push for more, 3, 4 and 5 bed housing units to be built because we are by a large majority building studios, 1 bed and 2 bed units.

I object to private student accommodations. I will keep demanding more public housing based on the Vienna Model that would cater for a wide range of household type without social segregation. Our neoliberal governments have turned Ireland into a private funds investors' heaven, this needs to stop to build affordable homes again.

I am committed to resolving the housing crisis once and for all. But this can only be done by local and central government working together to provide funding for housing to meet the housing needs of people in Dublin. As a City Councillor I have worked tirelessly to champion the building of social, affordable to rent and affordable to buy homes. I am glad to say since I was elected city councillor social and affordable homes have been built in Drimnagh, Chapelizod, Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard. Of course we need more, much more but this had been a good start. There is more in the pipe line for Sarsfield Road, Bluebell and Emmet Road.

Every person deserves the right to a stable and affordable home. A radical change in government policy is necessary to reverse years of ineffective housing policies.

Sinn Féin councillors have a track record of working hard on the Dublin City Council to tackle the housing crisis. We want to increase the number of coucnillors so as we can increase our influence and deliver more homes in less time to meet the needs of those languishing on council housing lists and those trapped in the precarious private rented market.

In my constituency, I've received numerous complaints from constituents about issues like mould growth, dampness, and inadequate ventilation in their homes, especially in areas like bathrooms, kitchens, leaks, and poorly ventilated rooms. Most of these complaints were from families with young children and elderly individuals. Many families expressed frustration over the prolonged duration taken by the Dublin City Council to address these repair issues.

Sinn Féin has proposed significant increases in Government funding for Councils to maintain, refurbish and retrofit Council homes. This includes a specific fund for local authorities to respond proactively to maintenance issues including windows and doors, damp, mould, and leaks. Too often, a small leak becomes a huge problem because it is left for too long. We would work towards every local authority producing a preventative maintenance plan. We would also introduce a regeneration scheme for apartments and flats that are past their lifespan.

People should not have to live in damp, mouldy or unmaintained homes. We would prioritise those homes in greatest need of repair and reduce waiting lists for basic maintenance. 

Minimum standards for rented accommodation are not being met in this city. Too many renters are living in homes that become damp and mouldy during the winter months. This is unacceptable when you consider the going rate for room rentals; an average of €400 per week in Dublin City according to Ireland’s 2022 Census. It's up to our local authority to enforce these standards and to hold private landlords accountable - with penalties for landlords in breach of housing regulations. 

For landlords seeking to improve apartments or duplexes built between 1991 - 2013, the Interim New Remediation scheme will provide funding for fire safety defects, structural defects and defects caused by water getting into a property. The means are there to support the renewal of buildings that are not fit for purpose for private renters. 

The Council is not delivering on their responsibility for enforcement of standards of private rental properties, leading to cowboy landlords providing substandard accommodation. Work by Ivana Bacik TD found that 746 improvement notices were issued in Q1 of 2023, but only two court cases were brought. I firmly believe in a general NCT-type model with homes being certified.

The Council needs to increase the number of inspectors to tackle housing standards head-on. Enforcement must be rigorous and not end with letters or notices. I will fight to ensure the Council has the resources to follow up on these notices for enforcement where standards have not improved. This includes legal action and banning individuals from being landlords. Nobody should be forced into handing over a huge part of their income to live in miserable housing.

Inspections are also meant to take place when there is consideration of property for HAP and Homeless HAP. There is little enforcement, little accountability, and worse still, the Council are sometimes subsidising poor housing conditions with housing payments.

Maintenance and dampness within Council properties is a major issue. I know the Dublin Inquirer has covered Oliver Bond in detail. This is replicated across Dublin, including Lissadel Maisonettes in Drimnagh. It is the same for the Council flats my family live in too, with dampness and mould being a major issue, with paint over solutions.

I want to see an end to the reliance on contractors, rolling estate management programmes, and target times for repairs. Enforcement standards must also apply to the Council and not just the private rental market. Council properties must be subject to inspection and enforcement. I can bet we'd see a step change in how the Council maintains properties if this happened.

I have also raised that while much has been done to provide private homeowners with energy efficiency schemes, lauded as the 'rooftop revolution', not enough is being done to address climate and energy measures within social housing. The Council is the state's biggest landlord. Council tenants, due to poor insulation, are paying high energy bills. There is a two-tier climate transition happening across Dublin which must end. Schemes like the Solar Electricity Grant must apply to social housing tenants.

Nationally, I support my Party's Renter's Rights Bill which would end no-fault evictions, allow tenants rights to dry clothes or own a pet, and create a rental property register so you could see how much previous tenants paid for a prospective property.

One of the big successes in improving conditions in social housing has been retrofitting. Thousands of Dublin homes have had external insulation fitted, or other energy improvements, making the houses warmer and healthier and cheaper to heat, but there are still thousands more to go. We have to make sure this funding continues, and prioritise the homes in most need of work.

(New social housing is built to a high energy standard, the energy efficiency is built in)

In the private sector, the core problem is the shortage of housing. Landlords can get away with all sorts of bad behaviour, overcharging for substandard accommodation, looking for payments in cash, because people are worried that if they complain, they will get evicted. Even if you know your landlord is breaking the law, what do you do if you have nowhere else to go?

We can fund more housing inspections and enforcement, and support organisations like Threshold who do great work helping renters, but the most important thing we can do is provide better alternatives. The private sector isn’t going to build enough housing to solve this problem, they won’t build enough to lower prices. But the council, directly or through housing bodies, can build affordable and secure housing in the numbers we need to make a difference.

Conditions in existing social housing is hampered and impacted by the current methods utilised by the council in how these properties are managed and maintained. The council currently outsource their maintenance and repairs to private contractors leading to long delays.

The council and its tenants would be best served if the council were to take back ownership of these services and directly employ the needed trades to manage this maintenance and modernisation work therefore ensuring a better quality service and greater oversight.

For private rental we should look to grade properties in terms of conditions, energy efficiency and access to local amenities and services and this would then dictate cost of rent using a graded system to identify a price cap.

The key to many issues we have today [regarding] public housing maintenance, waste collection etc is that we are not investing in our public services and we are privatising our public services.

Dublin City Council needs to be in a position to hire, train, and keep staff to respond to the demands of DCC tenants, especially tenants living in our old housing complexes.

We need to create and massively invest in a national public body to run retrofitting on the largest scale for all public and private buildings with full insulation to improve living conditions and energy efficiency. Only with social justice, will we significantly tackle climate breakdown.

I am a member of the Community Action Tenant Union (CATU). CATU and I with my councillor hat on as well, have been consistently pushing DCC for the last 18 months to get insulation for the tenants of Davitt House, public housing in Drimnagh, and better maintenance and care for the individual apartments and the entire complex. Attic insulation is being done, maintenance has improved and a plan for door and window replacement is in place. We are still demanding a full wrap around the building to stop the cold and mould in the apartments. 

People have a right to live in safe, clean and healthy homes. Unfortunately for many families this is simply not a reality.

Every week I receive numerous complaints from constituents about issues of mould, dampness, and inadequate ventilation in their homes. Most of these complaints were from families with young children and elderly individuals. Many families expressed frustration over the prolonged duration taken by the Dublin City Council to address these repair issues.

I have worked with council tenants in Drimnagh to organise themselves to demand Dublin City Council take immediate action to improve their living conditions. This has resulted in city council management coming out and visiting people homes to see for themselves the unacceptable conditions people have to live in. City council are currently doing a door to door survey of every home and have agreed to carry out an immediate maintenance programme.

This needs to be replicated right across Dublin. A huge obstacle is the consecutive governments have not given enough funding to Dublin City Council to carry out the necessary works in all the flat complexes. This needs to urgently change. It is unacceptable that in a country as rich as ours that city council tenants are forced to live in Dickensian conditions.

Sinn Féin has proposed significant increases in Government funding for Councils to maintain, refurbish and retrofit Council homes. This includes a specific fund for local authorities to respond proactively to maintenance issues including windows and doors, damp, mould, and leaks. Too often, a small leak becomes a huge problem because it is left for too long. We would work towards every local authority producing a preventative maintenance plan. We would also introduce a regeneration scheme for apartments and flats that are past their lifespan.

Dublin boasts the potential to be an appealing city for residents, employees, and tourists. Yet, there's significant room for improvement in maintaining cleanliness, particularly on our streets. I fully support the proposal to return bin services to public ownership and to enhance public waste services, which should include expanding both bins and recycling facilities.

Furthermore, I advocate for initiatives to raise public awareness, utilizing platforms such as community events and social media, to educate people about responsible waste disposal and pet ownership.

Additionally, it's crucial to increase waste bin coverage by installing additional bins in busy areas and ensuring regular maintenance to prevent overflow.

One of my top priorities is to push for cleaner, safer, more accessible streets in our city. As a mother of two young children, I am constantly trying to avoid dog litter with my buggy. In the area where I live, the litter problem is unacceptable, and it is damaging our collective sense of civic pride. 

The issues with litter on our streets is partly due to the privatisation of our waste companies who do not have our communities in mind. Waste management should move back into the public realm so that there is a greater sense of accountability at council level. 

The water quality of the filter beds at the Fifth Lock in the Bluebell Waterways was once so high that it supplied water to Guinness. The enhancement of our water quality should be an urgent priority for our council.

One great example of the improvement of our waters and effective community engagement, is the DCC funded Liffey Love project by the visual artist Rhona Byrne. Byrne is working on the Liffey Sweeper with Jimmy Murray - Director of the Irish Nautical Trust - to dredge plastic from the Liffey and repurpose it as a piece of public art - a ‘Love Seat’ on the docklands near Ringsend.

Projects like this one engage formally with people in the community and help promote a sense of civic pride -- two things that are at the top of my agenda. 

In 2023, Dublin City Council proposed hiring 100 additional staff for street cleaning to increase the resources needed to keep the city clean. Well-paying, local jobs in the Council. The Council could do this if they agreed to stop cutting the local property tax, approximately five euros per month for an average homeowner. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein, and PBP voted to keep the tax cut, which benefits thousands of more well-off homeowners, does nothing for anyone renting or in social housing, and denies the city an additional resource.

I understand that this is not a popular proposition for some and that there should be exemptions. However, I think most citizens understand that our Council is struggling to keep our city clean. Some Councillors moan about the state of the city and the lack of resources, especially during summer, but have a ‘sleeveen’ approach when it comes to addressing it. If we want expanded local public services and cleaner streets, the Council needs the resources to do so. While this must primarily come from the state, the Council has its limited revenue-raising ability right now.

Waste collection must be back in the hands of the council to end illegal dumping. I will work with colleagues across the Council to make this happen, and work has been already underway and supported by my party at a national level. Private companies are charging more for waste collection at a time when workers are struggling with bills and their profits are soaring. Private waste collection has failed. It is time for the Council to take back control and run our waste services. For less illegal dumping, greater recycling, and lower household bills.

This comes up a lot, and the crazy thing is that almost everybody who mentions dog poo is apologetic about it, they’ll say “I know you probably have more important things to worry about, but could you do something about all the dog poo?”

But clean streets are a basic thing to get right. If you live on a street with trees, that are clean, that are well-maintained, you’ll feel good about where you live. If you walk down the road and you are dodging dog poo and litter, you’ll think nobody - not your neighbours, not the council - has any respect for the area.

The primary responsibility for dog poo is with dog owners. If you have a dog, you clean up after it, that’s your job. But one reason why people don’t bother, or they drop litter on the street, is that they see the street is already dirty. If the path is already a mess, one more bit won’t make a difference, if it is clean, people are more likely to keep it clean. And that is up to the council - provide more bins, sweep the streets more often, clean up illegal dumping quickly. I’m in a litter-pick group in Walkinstown, and we do as much as we can to keep the place clean, but volunteer groups like ours should be an added extra, the council has to do most of the work.

One of the factors feeding into the litter problem is the privatization of the bin services. The council is taking litter bins off the streets, instead of adding more, because some people use them for their household rubbish. All that happens, though, is that people dump their rubbish somewhere else - in laneways or even into other people’s gardens. A single bin service, that everyone is signed up to, would help solve this. It would also stop the waste of having multiple bin companies that each have to have their own trucks and drive down the same streets to collect rubbish from different houses.

Most councillors agree that the council has to take back control of bin collections, and there was a committee in the outgoing council that looked at how to do this. Unfortunately, the legal situation is that we need national legislation to allow the council to either run the bin service itself, or contract with a single company to do all of Dublin.

Increase bin services for rubbish and dog poo. Currently the council do not provide sufficient numbers of bins and more recently have reduced bin numbers. Cleaning and maintenance are overstretched and not fit for purpose to maintain the streets of which is a very large geographical area. There is a need to ensure each area has its own maintenance team to ensure that streets are well maintained.

Only a few months after my elections on the council in 2019, I was a founding member of the ‘remunicipalisation of waste’ working group within the council. After I left the Green Party I joined Right To Change, the party created by TD Joan Collins who was elected having championed the anti-bin tax campaign. In the past year, we have organised a public meeting on taking the bins back to the local authorities, we set up stalls on a regular basis in our local communities to inform and promote the campaign.

Ireland out of European countries has a high rate of illegal dumping. Countries that have returned to public waste collection or have kept it as a public service don't have that problem. When we return bin collection to public ownership we won't have that environmental problem of having dirty streets with illegal dumping hot spots. Again taking waste back into public ownership will tackle pollution.

Dublin is a great city to live in. But there's significant room for improvement in maintaining cleanliness, particularly on our streets. Two major challenges is illegal dumping and dog poo.   Since the bin service was privatised in 2012 illegal dumping deteriorated. Yet in similar sized cities across Europe do not suffer from the same level of illegal dumping. A positive move would be to bring the domestic waste collection service back into public ownership. I currently chair the cross party committee in Dublin City Council that is committed to ensuring this will happen. We have met with colleagues in Leinster House and I am happy to confirm a similar working group has been set up in Leinster House with the focus of introducing legislation that will allow Dublin City Council take the bin service back into council ownership. This I believe will be a practical step in tackling illegal dumping and will allow city council to develop a comprehensive waste management strategy that means the needs of a modern European capital.

Furthermore, I advocate for initiatives to raise public awareness, utilizing platforms such as community events and social media, to educate people about responsible waste disposal and pet ownership. Additionally, it's crucial to increase waste bin coverage by installing additional bins in busy areas and ensuring regular maintenance to prevent overflow.

One further scheme that proved effective was the deployment of undercover staff in parks who were able to catch dog owners ‘red handed’ when they failed to clean up after their dogs.

There is an alarming abundance of vacant and derelict properties in our capital city, including the areas of Ballyfermot and Drimnagh. Many of these homes have remained unoccupied for years, with some deteriorating into dereliction, which adds to the issues confronting our communities, as it increases the likelihood of illegal dumping and contributes to the proliferation of rats.

Sinn Féin would encourage local authorities to Compulsory Purchase, where practical, and return to use derelict properties alongside increased utilisation of the Buy and Renew scheme. We would also request monthly updates to increase the collection of the Derelict Sites Levy and to speed up the return of vacant social homes.

The number of vacant buildings in our city during a housing crisis is an embarrassment. There is a lack of imagination around planning and making use of vacant space in our city. Every local authority across Ireland should prioritise a hike in taxation for private buildings that have run into dereliction. 

I want to push for vacant and derelict properties owned by the Council to be brought back into use. For example, the old library on Emmet Road in Inchicore is a beautiful old public building that has fallen into disrepair causing much frustration for locals and heritage groups. This is one of many sites sitting vacant.

Just this week, an Irish Times article references a derelict site in Dublin 8 that has been a point of contention for developers and DCC and has been lying unused for more than 20 years. The piece also points to four other sites in the vicinity, it is not acceptable to have so many spaces lying unsafe and unused. 

The scourge of vacancy is really infuriating. I see it all the time as I walk around the community. One frustrating vacant building is the former OLV Youth Centre on Sarsfield Road, which had planning permission for older person units. This was withdrawn and now the site has become an illegal dump.

It's as simple as this: the Council needs to be pressured into using its power for compulsory purchase orders and is too shy in doing so right now. I will be raising these cases of vacancy and dereliction where they arise if elected, and push for the Council to develop these properties into housing or community amenities.

I will push for more funding allocation for compulsory purchasing and deep retrofit and restoration.

It’s enormously frustrating to see buildings sitting vacant, and falling into dereliction. There are people desperate for homes, while houses lie empty all around us. When businesses are empty, they drag down the whole area - an empty shopfront means that a service isn’t being provided. People have to travel to get something they should be able to get locally.

We can do our best to tackle vacancy and dereliction by chasing down individual properties, but it takes a long time to track down the owner of a vacant house and get them to bring it back on the market. The council also doesn’t have the money to put in compulsory purchase orders on hundreds of empty properties, renovate them, and manage them or sell them. We have to make it expensive to sit on sites, so that owners will either bring them back into use or sell them to someone who can.

This is only fair. A piece of land in the city is valuable because it is in the city - because it is connected to roads and public transport, surrounded by housing and amenities. That land should be used to provide something valuable to the community. You shouldn’t be able to profit by owning a vacant or derelict property and doing nothing with it. We should increase taxes on these properties - and enforce that taxation better - until they are brought back into use.

Each derelict and vacant property needs to be assessed on a case by case basis. Many vacant properties may be in individual ownership and there may be very genuine reason for the current status and presentation of the property.

The council must work with such individuals or organisations to assess what can be done and to allow a proper return to usage as needed, without allowing some of our older and more historically relevant properties to fall into ownership of big developers and corporations who are intent on levelling these properties and removing our cultural assets and heritage.

The council can work to maintain the visible appearance of a property at a reasonable rate to the owner whilst planning for longer term works.

We need to use the tools we already have and enforce them on landlords. More buildings and land need to come back into public ownership to provide public and affordable housing so DCC with the help of government funding needs to be able to use CPOs to buy derelict sites and buildings. We need to stop seeing housing as investments but as a necessity need to provide housing for all.

There is an alarming abundance of vacant and derelict properties in our capital city, including the areas of Ballyfermot and Drimnagh. Many of these homes have remained unoccupied for years, with some deteriorating into dereliction, which adds to the issues confronting our communities, as it increases the likelihood of illegal dumping and contributes to the proliferation of rats.

Sinn Féin would encourage local authorities to Compulsory Purchase, where practical, and return to use derelict properties alongside increased utilisation of the Buy and Renew scheme. We would also request monthly updates to increase the collection of the Derelict Sites Levy and to speed up the return of vacant social homes.

When it comes to empty council properties we need the government to reverse the cut imposed on funding used to tackle voids and an immediate increase in this funding to match the demands on Dublin City Council. It is incredible that at the height of the current housing crisis the government has cut funding for voids.  

Every community should have the right to safety and protection. Nonetheless, a considerable number of residents in our capital city feel unsafe. Sinn Féin has presented our plans to invest in the Gardaí, to deploy more police officers on our streets to protect the communities.

We would introduce a public transport policing unit to ensure people can feel safe while using public transport. We would get to grips with the recruitment and retention crisis in the Gardaí to end the huge numbers resigning.

We all noticed a growth in anti-social behaviour during the Covid lockdowns. Unfortunately some of this behaviour has continued and can be seen most starkly through the recent riots in Dublin.

There are lots of actions that need to be taken to tackle this complicated problem, and we're all feeling a great sense of frustration, disillusionment and a lack of civic pride in our city and its outskirts.

It is heartening to see that people are taking action to combat this. I admire the work that Robbie Kitt and Sunil Sharpe are doing through their campaign Give Us The Night, lobbying for more social spaces and creating a safer, more inclusive night-time economy. More social spaces mean less anti-social behaviour. 

I want to push for properly funded social spaces where young people feel safe, supported and comfortable enough to build their community. We need to listen to young people’s needs and create spaces in consultation with them - we can’t assume we know what they need. 

More Community Gardaí are crucial. Numbers are slowly starting to recover but at too slow a pace. Relationships between Gardaí, the public, and businesses are so important to cohesion and in supporting the prevention and reporting of crime. This is a fight for resources which Councillors must bring to Gardaí and the Department of Justice.

In terms of the role of the Council, public design is crucial to keeping the city safe. I want to see a less hostile, more open design for our city. I highlighted that making places 'lived in' keeps places busy and alive with movement and people. Better, brighter, public lighting is an important part of this design too, particularly for women and those more vulnerable. Street furniture and design are also important; places must feel alive. Open spaces and pedestrianisation are also a part of this solution.

Councillors have had powers degraded in terms of community safety. Councillors must be central to Community Safety Partnerships, and I personally find this very useful when I attend the local civic centre. It gives the community a chance to connect with those accountable, and if elected, will be at as many to hear concerns and work to address local issues.

I know as a Youth Justice Worker that anti-social behaviour is an ongoing issue. We need to fight for investment in youth and community services, as resources are struggling with demand. I know that scramblers are a major problem. I see it all the time in Ballyfermot. Other than it being a nuisance and destroying green spaces, I am terrified that I will find out that one of my young people will be injured or worse on a scrambler. We need to start addressing this issue, and it lies with Gardaí and the Council to address this.

This may be an aside, but anti-homeless and hostile design is disgusting and will fight to root it out too. It has been designed with the allusion of keeping streets safer but all it does is make the city more inhumane and unsafe to those most vulnerable.

In the short term, we need more visible policing on the streets - and also on public transport. Garda numbers have not kept up with the population of Dublin. People don’t feel that there will be a garda there when they need them, or that they’ll come in time to a call, so they don’t feel safe.

That’s a necessary step in the short term, but the gardai can only deal with problems after they have happened. We can’t throw gardai at the situation and ignore the root causes.

We have a massive problem with drugs in the city, that is at the root of a lot of crime, and our drugs policy is obviously not working. There are kids growing up in parts of the city that don’t see any real opportunities in their lives, and turn to dealing or using drugs, or other anti-social behaviour, because they don’t feel they have anything to lose.

We have to provide more and better supports for kids and families to help them break out of that vicious cycle. We have to start treating drug use as a public health crisis, rather than something we can stamp out with enough policing.

More Gardaí and more focus on community-type policing initiatives. Policing would be best served by members of the Gardaí walking the beat as opposed to being mainly station-bound and responding to calls. Prevention and education are much better approaches to take. Intervention initiatives are also a key area of working towards crime prevention and diversion. Safety is a massive issue currently within the city and surrounding areas, with visible Gardaí on the streets knowing the local community and having more established relationships we can return troubled parts of our community to what they once were. In a wider context at the national level, the judicial system plays an integral role, especially in relation to sentencing for crimes and how anti-social behaviour is managed.

I am a committee member of the D12 Community Safety Forum and was chair for two years. I am part of the D12 Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force. I work very closely with the Crumlin and Sundrive Garda stations.

The wider issue with safety is the drug trade. More and more people see the drug trade as the only way to subsist and provide an income to support family members. We need to tackle poverty and the cost of living in order to make the drug trade not attractive. We need to raise the minimum wage, and invest in social workers in our communities, mental and physical health, and women's services.

Dublin should be a safe place for everyone. We must work together to ensure our city is safe for all residents and visitors.

Unfortunately a considerable number of residents in our capital city feel unsafe. Sinn Féin has presented our plans to invest in the Gardaí, to deploy more officers on our streets to protect the communities. We would introduce a public transport policing unit to ensure people can feel safe while using public transport. We would get to grips with the recruitment and retention crisis in the Gardaí to end the huge numbers resigning.

We also understand we cannot simply police our way out the anti-social behaviour. The cuts imposed on youth services, drugs projects and family services must be reversed. In hardest hit communities inter agency task forces must be established to work in partnership to deliver the change necessary that makes our communities safer, welcoming places to work and visit.

Ensuring road safety and accessible transportation are fundamental to enabling people to live, work, and enjoy their communities securely. 2023 witnessed the highest road fatality rates in nearly a decade, with Dublin ranking as the poorest among 30 European cities in public transport. It's time for change.

We recognise that many children cannot safely access school without relying on a lift from parents. This can be a barrier to parents, but it also reduces young people’s independence.

In my area, Ballyfermot - Drimnagh, which covers parts of Inchicore, Chapelizod, Walkinstown and Cherry Orchard, there are huge concerns about the changes made to three crucial bus services. The number 13 bus in particular will be a huge loss for people who rely on this service. Cutting people off from local bus routes that connect them to the city and its services will have a significant negative impact on the community. The changed routes result in many people facing longer wait times and further distances to walk from at night. 

I will work to ensure that the city development plan includes initiatives that improve our infrastructure for public transport. This will reduce car reliance and emissions.

I am very supportive of Busconnects, however, its vision is currently unrealised because of the mismatch and delay in implementation. I am glad the NTA is taking the time to review some aspects around Tyrconnell Road and Bluebell, as this was a large area that would be underserved by buses and public transport.

I want to see it get done, and done right. I recently informed residents about changes in terms of the infrastructure. I was shocked by how little they were engaged with, by the NTA and politicians. People will support the schemes if they understand how it will work. I will ensure that the infrastructure schemes are done well and in accordance with plans.

I am glad the Dart+ South West is progressing, but I am pushing to see funding allocated to a Ballyfermot Dart Station at Kylemore Road as a part of this, especially with new planned developments in the area. A feasibility study is one thing, but backing it up with money is another. I don't want to see it go the way of the Lucan Luas study, which just gathered cobwebs and forgotten about. Another side note - I would also like to see this reviewed again!

Dublin Bikes are also public transport! But I will talk about them in another section.

If we’re going to get people to switch to using public transport more, it needs to be reliable, it needs to be fast, it needs to be right for the journeys people want to make, and it needs to be safe.

Ghost buses are a huge problem, they make people lose faith in the bus service completely. If a bus is cancelled, that’s a pain, but if a bus is cancelled but still shows up on the realtime sign so you spend ten minutes waiting for it in vain… that’s infuriating. The Transit app is useful, because it also gets information from passengers, so you have more certainty that the bus is actually coming. But Dublin Bus really need to sort themselves out - only show us real buses!

The reason why public transport can be slow is obvious - it gets stuck in traffic. So the solution is obvious too - get other traffic out of the way. The Dublin city transport plan should make a real difference here, making some streets in the core city centre bus-only. The planned BusConnects corridors include more bus lanes and bus gates which should speed up journey times - but we have to start enforcing bus priority effectively.

One of the good things we’ve already seen from BusConnects is that there are now ten bus routes in the city that are running 24 hours a day. That’s great for shift workers in particular. The 90 minute fare, allowing people to switch between bus, Luas, and DART also opens up a lot of journeys. There have been some issues with the changes to bus routes, in places like Chapelizod, so the NTA needs to be open to adding more services where required.

We already talked about improving safety in the city. A lot of people tell me that they feel much safer taking buses, where they can sit near a driver and know they are seen, than on the Luas. Again, there needs to be a more visible garda presence here and on the DART, whether that’s a dedicated unit or just including trams and trains in regular patrols.

These are things that we have to fix, because we have to make public transport work. It’s simply not possible to base transport policy around private cars, they take up too much room. We don’t have enough road space for everyone to drive into the city, let alone park there too, and that’s before we think about the dangers to pedestrians and the air pollution from traffic. Public and active transport is the future of the city.

Safer public transport system is needed. There is everyday impact on people using public transport due to anti-social and criminal behaviours which take place on or at stops. There also has been an impact on the public transport network due to how roads and streets have been shut, diverted or travel directions changed. The bus network was redesigned, not for the betterment of the community as it left many areas without service and stops or with overcrowded services in place. There is a need to rethink and redevelop how public transport serves the community as opposed to serving operators and consultancy companies.

I am part of the Connect Communities Action Group which has lobbied to keep the 13, 68, and 69 buses to stop the NTA plan to remove them and replace them with one bus per hour that is not going through Thomas Street and St James Hospital. 

Busconnects were drawn up by a North American transport specialist. Dublin is a medieval city, an old city, so we need to copy and follow the lead of our counterparts on the continent, such as the City of Nantes located south of Brittany, one of our closest European neighbours.

We know it works there, we know how they do it, we just need the political will to massively invest in more buses. [We need] less CO2 emission propelled buses, to invest in smaller buses to service local areas like it was before in Bluebell, for example. We need more routes and more frequent buses, not less.

We need to make public transport free to offer a true alternative for drivers who get stuck in traffic congestion on a daily basis. We need to think of a public transport designed for European cities to help tackle climate breakdown. 

Ensuring road safety and accessible transportation are fundamental to enabling people to live, work, and enjoy their communities securely. 2023 witnessed the highest road fatality rates in nearly a decade, with Dublin ranking as the poorest among 30 European cities in public transport. It's time for change.

We recognise that many children cannot safely access school without relying on a lift from parents. This can be a barrier to parents, but it also reduces young people’s independence.

Encouraging more active modes of transportation, like cycling and walking, will play a pivotal role in addressing the climate crisis. To make this feasible, individuals must have confidence in their safety while doing so.

We support auditing all footpaths and putting in place a programme of footpath restoration so everyone can walk and move around their local area confidently.

Our streets are not accessible for wheelchair users, mothers wheeling buggies or folks with limited mobility. Cracked pavements have been dug up by council works and forgotten about, leaving uneven and unsafe walkways for vulnerable people. Cars parked up on pathways and ramps that are too steep also prevent people from moving around the city with ease. 

I am greatly encouraged by the number of commuters travelling into the city centre by bike each day. However, I would advocate for an increase in safe bike paths for people travelling further distances. I would also advocate for the Dublin Bike Scheme to be rolled and properly maintained in the Ballyfermot - Drimnagh area. 

I won't proclaim to be a cycling expert, more a regular cyclist and cycle lane user who wants to arrive safely. Dublin is treacherous to cycle in many places. I know from using lanes in Ballyfermot and Inchicore.

Dublin Bikes was an idea introduced by former Labour Lord Mayor Andrew Montague. So we have a history of cycling in the city, one I am proud of, and one I use a lot! I want to see Dublin Bikes expanded; our City does not end at the canals. We need to see it expanded into Ballyfermot, Drimnagh, and Walkinstown. These areas are such a quick cycle from the city, so why can't we provide the bikes? Why can't we have Dublin Bike stations at Crumlin Hospital or Ballyfermot College? The scheme needs renewal and expansion, and I want to push for that.

I will support active travel schemes, and have raised with the Dublin Inquirer that many parts of the Dublin South Central area have not been receiving their fair share of active travel funding. People in our area, regardless of their income, need these lanes. I know it because I use them and they're terrifying. Get decent lanes in and people will follow. We need continuous, segregated, contra-flow cycle lanes and they will get my support if elected to Council.

We need a review of footpaths across our area with a programme of works to start addressing the potholes and clutter that are leaving little space for buggies and wheelchairs to go around. Universal design must be incorporated into their design too, and not an afterthought.

This is an area where we’ve seen real progress in the last few years, because of a strong Green presence on Dublin city council, and a Green transport minister making funds available. There’s been a huge increase in the number and quality of cycle lanes in the last five years, we’ve pedestrianised Capel Street, and made lots of other improvements for walking in the city.

But there is a lot more to do. We have a lot more protected cycle lanes than before, but we were coming from a very bad starting point! We need a proper network of segregated cycle lanes through the city - lanes that you would be happy to let a 12-year old cycle on. They have to be segregated from both motor traffic and from pedestrians. People on bikes shouldn’t have to share space with trucks, and walkers shouldn’t have to share space with cyclists.

The speed limit in most of the city should be 30 km/h - and more importantly, that’s how our roads should be designed. There’s no point in putting up a 30 sign on a road that looks like a motorway. Safe traffic speeds need to be built in to the road.

We should also be putting zebra crossings on most of our minor junctions, in the city and in the suburbs. Push-button crossings are hugely expensive, and the council adds very few each year. Zebra crossings are much cheaper and easier to add, they should be on every side road.

A big worry people have about cycling into the city is that their bike will be stolen. The Drury Street bike park is excellent, we need lots more facilities like it, especially at train stations and other transport hubs. We have to make it easy to use bikes and public transport in the same journey.

I’m standing for election in Ballyfermot-Drimnagh, where there isn’t a Green councillor, and it really shows. I said above that there’d been a lot of new bike lanes added in the last few years - not around here. There are no Dublin Bikes stations, we’re outside the Bleeper area, and only a small part of the constituency is covered by Moby. There are a lot of people here who cycle and want safer routes, a lot of people who would cycle if they could, but nothing has been done for them.

Much of the above covers this. Safer, cleaner streets and communities with a focus on keeping the heritage and history of our areas.

People who use public transport make their way on foot or wheelchairs to their local bus stop and do the same in the city centre to go to their local library etc. So public transport is key in parallel with footpaths that are accessible to use by all, lower speed limit for cars and more pedestrian crossing. 

Encouraging more active modes of transportation, like cycling and walking, will play a pivotal role in addressing the climate crisis. To make this feasible, individuals must have confidence in their safety while doing so.

We support auditing all footpaths and putting in place a programme of footpath restoration so everyone can walk and move around their local area confidently.

I am committed to speaking up for a society that is fair, inclusive, and embraces diversity. It is crucial that all members of our communities feel safe and welcomed. Arson attacks against accommodation for asylum seekers have no tolerance in our society, and I strongly condemn these actions.

As a long-time ally of the LGBTQIA+ community, I am appalled by the unhealthy rise in far right sentiment – much of this anger and opposition to our increasingly diverse society is due to inadequate public information, a large distrust in government and a lack of proper integration at grassroots level. 

Our local councillors have a moral responsibility to address the fear of change which many people in the community feel. We need to do better when it comes to integration programmes. We need to resource more local art projects, coffee mornings and community events - these small-scale initiatives can be very impactful and are all part of building sustained connection across our cultures. Our councillors need to prioritise integration in the long-term so that those who are marginalised feel safe and welcome in our communities.

This is a personal topic for me and one that I have been struggling with a lot if I am honest. I strongly considered whether or not to run for election based on the risk I might face in running because of my values and my identity. I think this represents the danger posed to our democracy right now.

I have been a long-time campaigner on LGBTQ+  issues, from ending homophobic bullying to marriage equality. It was personal for me; I faced abuse for years as a young person, saw friends assaulted, had friends flee to Ireland for shelter, and heard too many stories of people ending their lives. I've also seen Ireland progress; passing marriage equality was one of Ireland's best days, rooted in our value of fairness. But we see how progress can be reversed.

Ultimately, I decided to run because, in my view, it's never been more important for our Council to represent what our great city looks like, to have strong progressive advocates at the local level, and to elect people who reject division.

In my canvassing and campaign literature, I am encouraging residents of Dublin from migrant communities to register to vote. Many are unaware that they can vote in Council elections when I speak to them. They need to be heard.

We need urgent action on housing. It is not to minimise or ignore extreme ideologies that are rooted in racism, but rather address how this issue is taking hold. It is clear to me that this issue has provided a way for agitators to scapegoat communities. It is eroding solidarity within some communities that are particularly struggling with housing insecurity. Agitators would rather have people against each other, rather than for the collective goal of making sure everyone is housed in decent and affordable homes. I have yet to see them at any housing protest I have attended.

It's never been more important for politicians to stick with what is right on these issues, as the majority of Irish people expect them to, especially when they proclaim to be progressive. It’s disappointing to see some on the left move right for political gain. Moreso when recent polling shows that the vast majority of Irish people have a positive view of immigration. In other words, I strongly encourage citizens to elect people who will not abandon their values.

I think the first thing to say is that this hate is coming from a small number of people. They have gotten louder, and bolder, and more dangerous in recent years, but they are still a tiny minority. The gardai have been taking a hands-off approach to them, and it hasn’t worked. Instead they have become more violent and threatening.

Most people in Dublin remember our history of emigration, we all know people who went to England or America looking for a better life - and they were often young, single men. And most of us remember that when thousands of Irish people went to America in the 1980’s, they were illegal immigrants, overstaying student visas and working on false papers. And I think any of us old enough to remember when it was a crime to be gay recognise the same lines being used today to attack trans people.

I set up the Walkinstown For All group, and have been a supporter of Drimnagh For All and Inchicore For All since they formed. The Inchicore group is doing absolutely amazing work helping to welcome families into their community, setting up buddy systems, helping new arrivals find their way around the neighbourhood… it’s just brilliant. I think that kind of group is more representative of Dublin, and the work that they are doing is really important in integrating people. That’s how we win in the end, by bringing people together.

I don’t believe that this is something that is easily addressed in a forum such as this. I believe that solely stating that problems exist because of what is termed the far right is narrow-minded. I have listened to many people's concerns at the doors when canvassing and regarding such a question it is not a simple solution. The government of the day both at national and local levels have a lot to answer for in regards to failed policies and initiatives. Any response or planning in how this is managed and responded to would involve many agencies and groups. As this is a national-level issue with a local response needed, policy change, educational input, and community initiatives are all necessary and I feel that there needs to be an approach that is inclusive of all that. But we must also be ready to look at and assess what has occurred to drive the actions of some and alienate some of our local communities.

Far-right and [the] role [that] social media, run by private companies, plays need to be reviewed. But most importantly, if we didn't have a housing crisis that has been generated [by] not building public and affordable housing we would not have the far-right knocking on our door. More social dialogue needs to take place. 

We need to have our state institutions working for people, for housing, and [for] mental and physical health as a matter of urgency. Hate comes from desperation and fear. Freedom and human rights are a constant battle, we all need to stay vigilant to protect the rights acquired in the past thanks to activists who fought for us [to] have [and] enjoy them. We need to stay involved in our communities [and] to interact with one another as well.

We all need to keep in mind [that] asylum seekers would rather stay working and cultivating their plots of land in their homeland. We here in Ireland need to wake up and stop our neoliberal capitalist government [from] raising our cost of living, taking away our housing needs, creating climate breakdown here and in all countries where migrants originate from. 

We need the political will to stop extracting natural resources here in Ireland and everywhere else for us all not to fight for the crumbs [that] the 1% of the rich leave us. We can't let our working class fight with another working class just because it is from somewhere else. All united in fighting the rich because we can't afford them. That's the only way we will tackle the far-right, the far-right who never had, who doesn't and never will have the working class' best interest in mind.

I have a record of working with others in opposing racism and bigotry wherever it raises its ugly head. I helped set up my local Drimnagh For All and the citywide Dublin For All groups. I actively campaigned for marriage equality and will continue to work for full rights and protections for our LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones.

I am committed to actively supporting a society that is fair, inclusive, and embraces diversity. It is crucial that all members of our communities feel safe and welcomed.

Arson attacks on accommodation centres identified for asylum seekers or any homeless people has no place in our society, and I strongly condemn these actions. Those involved should face the full rigours of the law.