The failure of government to set or meet ambitious housing targets has meant that the action we need now is enormous. The government have shown us that the developer-led model only creates scarcity and unaffordability. That’s why I support a state-led model of housing delivery and would use my position on Dublin City Council to push for state acquisition of land and direct state building projects. In the interim, we have thousands of individuals in private tenancies in receipt of HAP, I would also push to bring these private tenancies under state ownership and operation through expanding the tenant-in-situ scheme.

Right now, conditions are woeful in both social and private rentals across the country because local authorities are not resourced to carry out regular inspections and the Residential Tenancies Board does not have the kind of powers it should to effectively hold private landlords to account. Dublin City Council need to be carrying out more inspections of private and public tenancies and I will push for this if elected. Additionally, we need to be pushing nationally for a better resourced and empowered RTB which can inspect and sanction rogue landlords. I also support the retrofitting of social homes across the local area through the council so our homes can be warmer and more sustainable, and I will push for landlords to retrofit their tenants homes.

An increased portion of our local property taxes should be ringfenced for street cleansing. It isn’t acceptable that the city centre, which is a place people work and live, is continuously a black spot for rubbish and illegal dumping. People should feel proud of where they are from and the actions of a few should not be allowed to destroy that. Litter wardens need to be given real powers too – for example, they should be able to fine people who are in charge of a dog in public without bagging equipment with them. 

We also need an adequate supply of public bins, communal bins in public housing locations and a commitment from the City Council that all graffiti – not just offensive/racist graffiti – will be removed where it appears.

In times of crisis, we cannot let speculative developers control our housing supply. Dereliction is a blight on our community, we need progressive voices on the council which will push to acquire vacant properties so that can retrofit and develop them directly with the Land Development Agency to provide much needed housing and community spaces. I would also push to introduce a ‘use it or lose it’ rule on derelict sites with existing planning permission where the developer has failed to turn soil to prevent speculative land hoarding. This would mean the council would have a right to acquire the property when the developer has waited too long to undergo the development of a site with existing planning permission.

In my time as a local area representative, I have engaged with so many people across our area who all ask for the same thing – a visible community policing presence in our area. While Gardaí will generally respond if called, the deterrent effect of visible officers on our streets cannot be understated. It helps people feel safer and wards off anti social behaviour. We also need to couple this with a targeted approach to street lighting to ensure no ”black spots” exist, and this work should be completed before the winter months arrive again. And across the city, we need to have a continued focus on investing in local communities and public amenities such as sports facilities and cultural spaces so that young people have positive options available to them and are less susceptible to negative influences that can exploit them. 

The focus of our transport policy should be to ensure that travelling by public transport becomes the easy, cheap and obvious way to travel for people who are able to. If we do this successfully, it will take those people out of private cars and actually make things easier for people who really need to travel by car, e.g. those who have medical needs or are older. Public transport has been made a lot cheaper in recent years but the cost needs to come down further – if more people use public transport, the whole city benefits in terms of a reduction in congestion and pollution. We need to make sure that ambitious travel plans such as BusConnects are rolled out but that communities are kept informed, and consulted about new changes. And we need to all work together to make sure that traffic disruption, where it is necessary to bring about changes to road layouts in order to facilitate these changes, is kept to a minimum and that our environment remains safe for vulnerable pedestrians.

We should audit the most popular routes to cycle around the city for unseen hazards which may make it more difficult to walk or cycle – such as mixing of cycle lanes with pedestrian footfall, potholes and blind corners that can all put people off cycling and walking. We also need to enforce our existing parking rules to make sure that people using buggies, and those in wheelchairs, are not constantly forced out in the roadway by illegally parked cars. In those areas where the roadways are narrow, the City Council should work with local residents to find a solution that is safe for everyone.

Everyone will be aware that it’s more common to hear racist and hateful language being used now than ever before. This is really worrying – and it’s scary how much of it is being fuelled by harmful misinformation on social media. We need to ensure regulation of social media companies who should be expected to ensure the content on their platforms is not designed to stir up hatred about vulnerable minorities. We also need to ensure our children are sufficiently protected and that they are not shown targeted content which is inappropriate for their ages.

I understand that where resources are limited, communities have concerns about immigration – but it is the government’s responsibility to address these concerns and to ensure Ireland remains the tolerant, open and progressive society it has always been. All of us want to see better services for our communities, but this doesn’t need to come at the cost of our international protection obligations, where people are fleeing the most desperate situations in their home countries.