The solution to the housing crisis is for local authorities to directly build public housing on public land. This is how we solved the housing crisis a century ago when the state was much less wealthy, and it's still the solution now.

The Workers’ Party has been leading the charge for a universal public housing model in Dublin for over a decade. My colleague Éilis Ryan when she was on the council passed a motion to save O’Devaney gardens and redevelop it as 100% publicly owned social housing. Unfortunately that motion was overturned by the housing minister and other parties on the council who then handed it over to private developers. As a councillor I will continue to fight for the return of a real social housing programme, accessible to all.

Maintenance of social housing, like most council services, has been decimated over the last 15 years. We need to rebuild the city council’s capacities by hugely increasing the number of full time maintenance staff.

In the case of private rented accommodation, we need to do everything we can to take on slum landlords, pressure both the housing authorities and the Gardaí to intervene to prevent illegal or bogus evictions, and give more power to council inspectors to tackle unhealthy conditions and reduce overcrowding. We also need to crack down on Airbnb and other short-term letting schemes which are used to circumvent tenancy laws.

Tackling the problems with waste and dumping of rubbish has been a priority for us for years. In my own area bags of rubbish are regularly dumped on every street corner.

Last year I set up the Dublin 7 Waste Campaign along with other residents in Phibsboro to highlight these problems.

Ultimately much of the problem with dumping stems from the privatisation of waste collection, which is expensive, inefficient, and results in dirty streets. We've also seen public bins removed from many busy areas to prevent household waste being dumped in them, which only makes the problem worse.

As a councillor I'll fight for the city council to take over waste collection again as a free public service, funded from taxation. I'll also fight for the council to replace the public bins that have been removed and start employing more street cleaners.

We already have measures in place such as vacant sites and derelict sites levies, but these are deliberately weak, and the fines are rarely collected. Many speculators and property developers are happy to hoard vacant sites and let these fines build up, knowing that no action will be taken against them. In the Dublin City Council areas there are around €7 million in unpaid derelict sites levies.

On the council I will push to have these levies increased, and ensure that all levies are collected at the end of each year. Sites that remain derelict or vacant for more than 4 years should be compulsorily purchased to be redeveloped as social housing, with the cost of unpaid fines subtracted from the purchase price.

The main factors causing people to become unsafe is the increase in drug-related anti-social behaviour, and the lack of visible community policing, particularly at night time. Re-development of addiction support and outreach services in the city centre is essential.

As a councillor I would also engage with the gardai to ensure the re-opening of local garda stations, which have been closed or had reduced hours, and the return to community policing. For example in Cabra, the garda station is now closed at night, in an area which already has many problems with anti-social behaviour and drug dealing, leaving elderly people in the area feeling unsafe at night.

Our main focus has to be on improving the frequency and reliability of bus and Luas services, electrifying and expanding the commuter rail network, and making sure that the metro goes ahead and is not delayed yet again.

A lot of focus has been placed in recent years on penalising driving as a way to reduce traffic, but I believe this emphasis is wrong. To really reduce the amount of cars we have to provide viable alternatives for the hundreds of thousands of people, especially living in the suburbs, who commute to work or to school by car, as it's the only practical means available to them.

If we build our public transport infrastructure first, removing cars becomes much easier. Trying to squeeze the space for cars without providing alternatives first just increases congestion, slows down buses and makes everyone’s journeys longer.

While bike lanes are important, the best way to improve the city for pedestrians and cyclists is to hugely improve our public transport system, which will reduce the numbers of cars on the road. I've cycled around Dublin every day for 30 years, and bring my kids to school by bike, so I'm familiar with the sad state of cycling infrastructure in Dublin. However, while we do need to improve our bike lanes, the biggest impediment to cycling for most people is the amount of traffic, or the fact that they simply live too far from their work for cycling to be viable. Improving public transport for commuters will free up space for those of us who cycle, and make the task of improving our cycle lanes much easier.

The most important role that the city council can play in tackling the far right threat is in addressing the social deprivation and marginalisation that fuels this kind of hate.

A far right racist element has recently managed to make inroads in some working class areas by taking advantage of the deprivation and justified anger caused by years of austerity and the housing crisis, and directing that anger at immigrants, in particular asylum seekers, and minority groups such as LGBTQ+ communities.

In the years since the 2008 crash, community facilities, social services and youth programmes in working class areas of Dublin have been repeatedly slashed, and have never recovered. The city council has little power to directly tackle far-right violence, but what it can do is tackle the conditions that allow it to develop by addressing the crises in housing and social services, and ensuring that marginalised working class communities are listened to and represented in city hall.

The council also needs to be engaged with local community leaders in areas where asylum seekers are housed well in advance of new centres opening, to make sure that local communities feel informed and respected, that their concerns about inadequate social services are listened to, and that the far-right aren’t given a foothold to spread misinformation.