The housing crisis has caused misery for countless people across our community. Many people feel trapped paying sky high rents while unable to save up for a deposit to buy their own home. Others are living at home with family, long after they want to find their own place and have their own independence. And others, as I’ve experienced in my own close circle of friends, feel forced to emigrate because they can’t picture a future here in Ireland.

Everyone should have the right to a secure and affordable home. A change of government is needed to unravel and reverse decades of bad housing policy.

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 causing 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.

In speaking to people across our community in recent months, I have heard first hand the incredibly difficult conditions that many are facing in both social and privately rented accommodation.

For example, at St. Peter’s Court, a DCC-run Senior Citizens accomodation in Phibsboro, residents showed me around the facility and told me of the challenges they face to get even basic maintenance requests completed.

People should not have to live in damp, mouldy or unmaintained homes. 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.

On the private rental side, Sinn Féin is calling for an emergency three-year ban on rent increases for existing and new tenancies. Additionally, we are proposing an NCT style certification process, where all rental properties are required to be certified, demonstrating compliance with basic standards – a process that will protect tenants and compliant landlords.

This is one of the biggest issues that we have been hearing on the doors in recent weeks.

Dublin can be a beautiful city to live, work or visit – however, much more needs to be done to ensure we have a clean environment, including clean streets for us all to enjoy.

As a priority, I, along with Sinn Féin colleagues, would support the process of bringing bin services back into public ownership, as well as public waste services such as recycling centres.

There are far too many vacant and derelict properties in our capital city, including in Phibsboro, Drumcondra and Glasnevin. Many of these homes are lying idle for years. Some are being left to rot, becoming derelict and a further blight on our communities.

In our community, we have seen examples of homes lying idle for 10+ years, for example at 19-21 Counnaught Street, Phibsboro and 8-10 Ferguson Road, Drumcondra. While small steps of progress now seem to be taking place in both these cases, we need far greater urgency in fighting vacancy and dereliction across the city.

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.

Communities deserve to feel safe and protected – but at the moment, the reality is that too many people in our capital city feel unsafe.

Sinn Féin have outlined our proposals to invest in the Gardaí, getting to grips with the recruitment and retention crisis to end the huge numbers resigning, so that we can have more Gardaí on our streets and working in collaboration with communities.

Going hand in hand with a renewed focus on community policing, we would provide improved resourcing to support the work of Youth Diversion Projects in our communities – to intervene early and help young people who may have become involved in crime/anti-social behaviour.

We would also introduce a public transport policing unit for DART, LUAS, Irish Rail, and Dublin Bus, to ensure that passengers are protected and can feel safe as they go about their daily lives.

Dublin ranked worst in public transport of 30 European Cities in 2023. We need change.

In Glasnevin, Phibsboro and Drumcondra, we are very much at the centre of ongoing plans to change our transport network. Whether it be Metrolink, Dart West, or BusConnects – there is certainly a lot going on.

While it has been on the cards for over 20 years, I welcome recent progress with the MetroLink project and the ongoing oral hearing at An Bord Pleanála. While residents' concerns regarding disruption during the construction phase must be fully and properly addressed, I want to see this project built as it will be truly transformative for our community and city. Quality public transport links, like the MetroLink, are essential if we are to reduce transport emissions and meet our climate targets.

Once planning permission is approved, we need assurances that this project will now be finally delivered on budget and on time. The National Children’s Hospital is a prime example of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s inability to deliver a critical project on time and on budget. It is essential that the same mistakes are not repeated on this major piece of infrastructure.

Road safety and accessible transport are at the heart of ensuring people can live, work and play safely in their communities. 2023 saw the highest number of deaths on our roads in almost a decade – a trend that needs to be reversed.

In our area, it will be fantastic to see the work on Royal Canal Greenway Phase 3 completed by next year, with the section between Cross Guns Bridge and Binns Bridge due to be opened this summer. This will be a great resource for our community and will be vitally important to make cycling more appealing and make cyclists feel safer.

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

Ensuring more active travel, such as cycling and walking, will be a key way to tackle the climate crisis. In order to ensure this is viable, people must feel confident that they can do so safely.

I will be a voice for a fair, equal and diverse society – all sections of our community must be able to feel safe and included. Arson attacks on accommodation for asylum seekers have no place in our society, and I condemn them unequivocally.

The recent scenes we observed when the government attempted to move homeless asylum seekers out of the public eye at Mount Street and Crooksling show that this Government’s approach is chaotic, heartless and directionless.

There are 1,200 asylum seekers sleeping on the streets here in Dublin. We need a fair, efficient and enforced immigration system. The current shambolic approach by government is very obviously not working.

On a local level, we need to take every opportunity to foster greater integration – inviting asylum seekers and other new arrivals to Ireland the opportunity to play their part in the local community. A lot of good work is already taking place in this regard, like the long-standing support that Bohemian FC have given to asylum seekers, but we need to build this out further across more and more sporting/community groups.