Everyone should have the right to a secure and affordable home. A Sinn Féin-led council, working with a Sinn Féin-led government, would take a different approach to developer-led Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We would deliver genuinely affordable purchase, rental, and social homes.

Red tape is resulting in delays of up to 2 years before a brick is laid. We would streamline the planning, design, and delivery of affordable and social housing through Dublin City Council. We would build public housing on public land, reduce delays, use new building technology, and incentivise the building of affordable homes.

Our spokesperson on Housing and Local Government, Eoin Ó Broin TD, has set out how Sinn Féin would deliver more affordable and social homes in our Alternative Budget 2024. A change of government at every level is needed to unravel and reverse decades of bad housing policy.

People should not have to live in damp, mouldy or unmaintained homes. The challenges of affordability and quality cannot be seen in isolation.

In relation to public or social housing, we would prioritise those homes in greatest need of repair and reduce waiting lists for basic maintenance. We would prioritise the regeneration or rejuvenation of historic flat complexes to bring them up to acceptable standards. We would significantly increase Government funding for Councils to maintain, refurbish and retrofit Council properties. We would work towards every local authority producing a preventative maintenance plan.

For private renters, Sinn Féin would ensure that all properties meet minimum standards. There is a major deficit in the supply of affordable and adequate rental homes. Sinn Féin would increase the proportion and supply of the social rental, affordable cost rental and affordable ownership homes to replace unfit properties.

The City Council could do much more to ensure we have a clean environment. I support bringing bin services back into public ownership, as well as developing public waste services such as communal bins and recycling centres. Privatisation did not improve costs for households, and it increased the costs to society. As a result of privatisation, the City Council has not invested in adequate waste management to avoid it being used for household waste. This has been counter-productive and has resulted in dumping.

The City Council is not sufficiently resourced to maintain the city properly. Rather than seeking an increase in commercial rates, I would support the introduction of a hotel bed night tax to raise funding to better maintain the city centre. A 1% charge could raise in excess of €12 million. We need more cleaners on the ground, as well as more public bins, to tidy up the city.

Dog fouling has been a persistent issue across the city, and ultimately it is a matter of individual responsibility. It can be difficult to catch and fine offenders. I would support local measures that are aimed at increasing accountability and improving reporting of offenders to the City Council. Council-employed Community Wardens, with a remit including anti-social behaviour, are one option which I am open to exploring.

Sinn Féin would use the vacant homes tax and derelict sites levy to tackle speculative purchase and non-productive holding of vacant and derelict properties.

We would make use of Buy and Renew and Compulsory Purchase powers to return derelict properties to use. We would resource Dublin City Council to acquire and return properties to use and speed up the reletting of vacant council properties.

Sinn Féin would bring a proactive approach to identifying and planning for the strategic development of significant underutilised land banks, particularly those which are already held by state bodies. This must be balanced with the need to develop local sport and parks capacity which can support increasing housing density in the inner city.

By 2022, there were 18% fewer Gardaí in Dublin than in 2009 despite growth in the city’s population. Social work and care services struggle for funding. Gangs have been allowed to embed themselves in and terrorise communities across Dublin. The State has been weak at tackling organised crime, even where it exists in City Council properties.

An increased Garda presence in the city centre and across local communities is not a cure-all, but the decimation of Garda numbers since 2009 has allowed space for criminality and anti-social behaviour. Sinn Féin would invest in the Gardaí, so we can have more Gardaí on our streets protecting communities. We would get to grips with the recruitment and retention crisis in the Gardaí to end the huge numbers resigning.

We would also invest in frontline social work and care services to support community development. Tackling inequalities across access to housing, sports and recreation, education, and employment are essential to prevention, avoidance, and diversion.

We need to be far more ambitious with public transport and urban planning. Cities with far more advanced public transport systems still have many of the same challenges as Dublin. Addressing chaotic and unpredictable traffic in the long-term is tied to the housing crisis. It requires a rethink of how we plan and develop the city and affordable housing.

In the short-term, we need to support and develop rapid bus and rail transport networks which are unimpeded by traffic congestion. The number and reliability of buses needs to be improved. Rail networks, including the Luas and the DART, are significantly under-developed.

Significant infrastructure projects, such as the Dodder public transport bridge and the Luas to Poolbeg, are taking far too long to progress. Quicker delivery of infrastructure is necessary to enable convenient public transport. Public transport should also be delivered in advance of major new residential developments so that convenient linkages exist when residents move in.

Workers and communities which are dependent on cars for longer distance travel need to be supported with timely public transport to reduce congestion and improve road safety. Motor traffic should be directed along the most efficient routes for reaching long-distance destinations, and the traffic system should enable quick movement along these corridors for all users.

Protected and joined up pedestrian and cycling infrastructure must be planned across the city. Most of our lives and the city have been planned around cars for decades. Successfully tackling traffic congestion requires providing both public transport and active travel alternatives.

There are areas of the inner city with very low vehicle ownership rates and these communities need to be supported to move freely and safely around their local areas. If you are able-bodied or live close enough to work, cycling and walking can be an extremely convenient way to travel around the city and it should be promoted. Many of us are lucky enough to be able to take advantage of this, but not everyone can.

Workers and communities which are dependent on cars for longer distance travel need to be supported with timely public transport to reduce congestion and improve road safety. Motor traffic should be directed along the most efficient routes for reaching long-distance destinations, and the traffic system should enable quick movement along these corridors for all users. This can facilitate quieter streets off main carriageways and the development of dedicated cycling infrastructure.

Those who must use cars, such as people with disabilities and their carers or parents, must continue to be supported to access and travel across the city.

I will be a voice for a fair, equal and diverse society. All sections of our communities must be able to feel safe and included. Arson attacks on emergency accommodation centres have no place in our society and I condemn these attacks.

People are entitled to vote as they desire, and it is legitimate to vote based on who you believe will best address your real and genuine concerns and beliefs. People should be angry at the failure of the political establishment to provide affordable housing and strong local health services, for example. Ordinary workers have been failed time and again. This affects us all, and the blame lies squarely at the feet of Government and those with real power in our society, not with any minority group.

The Gardaí must be supported to tackle criminality, including attacks on people and property. At the same time, I believe that much more can and should be done to support the strength and diversity of our local communities through community events.

Most of us know and understand that there are issues with our immigration system, particularly international protection. We have known for years that Direct Provision is not fit for purpose, that processing times have taken too long, and that there are clear failings around enforcement. People living and working here on visas often report difficulties with the immigration system taking far too long.

The failures in the system have come to the fore and there are people making millions from this dysfunction. We should all be angry at this, too, and demanding that it is fixed. This election is an opportunity for real change which can tackle the inequalities and failures which have the potential to significantly harm and divide our society.