There are several things we can and should be doing but my top three priorities would be:

• Build more social, cost rental and affordable housing. We need to hit our social housing targets. We have been underperforming on our social housing targets and this needs to change. Dublin City Council has had history of being able to build public housing, just stand on the junction of Golden Lane, Bride Street and Bull Alley in Dublin 2, you will find three corners of Dublin public housing that has been built to last and built to form communities, we need to go back to that. An example of this would be through the Oscar Traynor site, in the last council I was one of the councillors and sitting Lord Mayor on the Housing Strategic Policy Committee on the Oscar Traynor site. As the Lord Mayor at the time I established the working group that brought the various conflicting views on the project to bring us more affordable homes. The succeeding Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland and the other councillors on the committee were instrumental in making the final agreement happen. We continuously pushed the council management for more and eventually got agreement for 40% social, 40% cost rental and 20% affordable of 850 homes, a far better agreement than when we began. It is this approach we need to adopt to ensure we develop better housing in the city. We need more social, more cost rental and more affordable.
• Online reporting and enforcement of illegal full-time AirBnBs, which deprive the city of much-needed homes. AirBnB and similar companies are draining a lot of housing supplying into holiday lettings - the result is that we are putting tourists into our housing stock and our homeless into hotels! The council can and must take a more pro-active approach in using planning rules to control short terms let's, including facilitating online reporting. Equally a greater responsibility needs to be put on the companies themselves, we need legislation for this and councillors need government to do that, but we can work together to put pressure on government, we can work with management and other councils to build a coalition of local authorities to demand reform.
• Tackle the huge amount of vacant and derelict sites that we have in the city. Apart from the builds that are planned and in the works we also have a huge amount of derelict and vacant sites that can be repurposed. We have 166,000 vacant and derelict sites in the country, 12,000 of these are in our capital made of commercial and residential sites. A vast majority of these are commercial sites and this is why we need to look at expansion of the adaptive reuse scheme. As a member of the Housing SPC, we (councillors) work with the Adaptive Reuse Division of Dublin City Council on the commercial sites that are identified to be reuse, commercial on the ground floors with above shop living above. There has only been a number of properties being adapted and our job as councillors is to ensure we work with the management to expand the scheme as much as possible. In addition we need to ensure that we have a fit for purpose derelict and vacant site register that we are working off. As a Councillor I passed a motion for exactly that and even though the current derelict site list is still low, only 112 residential properties, it is higher than the 79 properties before the motion. I will also be pushing for the council management to put in proper procedures to collect the millions (6.8 million with one last report) owed from derelict site levies and be more amenable to issue compulsory purchase order of sites and properties that are derelict and vacant rather than leave that method as a last resort. Lastly as I and other councillors mentioned at previous council meetings we need more inspectors in the Croí Cónaithe (Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant) scheme, afterall if we are going to encourage the owners to refurbish vacant properties and government are providing the funds for such schemes then we need to be able to make the process as efficient as possible so the property can be put back into use.

    Other priorities would include: 

• Develop a new plan to develop space above shops for housing.
• Support more cost rental housing, where the rent you pay is based on the development cost. 
• Aim more resources at city council apprenticeships in housing maintenance, so that council-owned vacant properties are turned around quicker. 
• Maintain good-quality standards for housing, particularly in terms of warmth and energy efficiency.

I would definitely aim to send more staffing resources to the council’s private rental inspection team, to ensure that minimum standards are being upheld.

Right now it’s a case that when things get reported there will be a wait time for inspection and it’s also reliant on tenant’s reporting which is difficult since many tenant’s would fear retribution from landlord’s and anxiety from losing their home if they reported and in the current rental market it would be extremely challenging for them to find another home. What we need to do is to get as much housing supply onto the market, work across party to ensure there is compromise and that housing proposals where reasonable and contain sociable, affordable and cost rental, passes. Also to represent tenants who are living in poor conditions on accessing the resources without fear of retribution. 

On our social rented schemes I had suggested to the maintenance section of the idea of an onsite caretaker office that would recruit apprentices from the residents of the housing complexes themselves, it gives the residents back an element of agency as well as ownership but more importantly it may allow things to be fixed in a more timely and efficient manner. I have also suggested real time tracking of how long a repair would take. 

I have worked on a few cases of the tenant in situ scheme and when the council purchase the properties they ensure it’s fit for purpose, not on is this a good way of increasing our housing stock but it allows for better oversight on living conditions.

In addition as the founder and Chair of Dublin City Council’s Subcommittee of Homelessness I would add that it is not only the conditions of the accommodation that is essential but in cases of homelessness it is the integration and wrap around supports that are essential and this is why Housing First which saw an integrated approach with HSE, local authorities and NGOs, is welcomed.

Hire more staff!!

We have insufficient cleaning staff and dog wardens. In recent months there has been a commitment by the new Chief Executive to hire more staff, this was something our party was pushing for. With more cleaning staff hopefully we will avoid the dirty conditions we saw last summer in our city. But this is not just a city centre issue, we need increase of cleaning in suburban areas and not just push the issue onto local tidy towns and community groups. 

In the city centre we also need more public toilets, this would tackle the issue of public urination which causes a literal stink to our city. While on the City Recovery Taskforce as Lord Mayor we brought in toilets for Grafton Street, Wolfe Tone Square, portaloos for around the city and even stated publicly that the Mansion House was available for anyone looking to use the facilities and ended up putting two portaloos on the grounds too, my thinking was that facilities of public buildings should be opened to the public and this in turn would decrease the stench of urine from some Dublin streets. We need more public toilets around the city on a permanent basis. 

As of March this year, only one dog fouling has been paid in Dublin city in the past four years – and it was cancelled on appeal. Recent Dublin council data shows that only eight fines were issued between 2019 and 2023. This highlights two issues, that we do not have enough dog wardens to issue fines and the ones we have are not out during the right times. There are a number of ways to tackle dog fouling:

• Hire more dog wardens to issue and enforce fines.
• Ensure that said officers are working during peak dog walking hours, before 9am and after 5pm, so the role should be flexo-time rather than 9-5pm. 
• Bring in more innovative ways of tracking like DNA testing, something I brought up recently and requested data of in the South East Area Committee meeting. UK boroughs have this method and Leitrim recently initiated a scheme. Instead of brushing it off as unworkable, we should look at data to see if it actually works and implement a trial scheme. All domestic dogs are brought to a vet and a microchip installed at an early stage with the owner’s address, we can use the same chip to track and issue fines when DNA testing is done on the dog foul.

As mentioned in my answer above we have 166,000 vacant and derelict sites in the country, 12,000 of these are in our capital made of commercial and residential sites. A vast majority of these are commercial sites and this is why we need to look at expansion of the adaptive reuse scheme. As a member of the Housing SPC, we (councillors) work with the Adaptive Reuse Division of Dublin City Council on the commercial sites that are identified to be reuse, commercial on the ground floors with above shop living above. There has only been a number of properties being adapted and our job as councillors is to ensure we work with the management to expand the scheme as much as possible. In addition we need to ensure that we have a fit for purpose derelict and vacant site register that we are working off. As a Councillor I passed a motion for exactly that and even though the current derelict site list is still low, only 112 residential properties, it is higher than the 79 properties before the motion. I will also be pushing for the council management to put in proper procedures to collect the millions (6.8 million with one last report) owed from derelict site levies and be more amenable to issue compulsory purchase order of sites and properties that are derelict and vacant rather than leave that method as a last resort. Lastly as I and other councillors mentioned at previous council meetings we need more inspectors in the Croí Cónaithe (Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant) scheme, after all if we are going to encourage the owners to refurbish vacant properties and government are providing the funds for such schemes then we need to be able to make the process as efficient as possible so the property can be put back into use. 

More policing is the first answer that comes to mind but policing is under the Garda Commissioner and Department of Justice. All of us on the council have said to the Garda Commissioner and Assistant Commissioners and also Minister of Justice that we need more policing. This has seen slight changes in the last number of months since the Dublin riots but it cannot be just ad hoc for big events in the city like St Patrick’s Day or the sport matches, it needs to be all year round. More Gardai on the beat would act as a deterrent as well as reactive response.

The council elements that we can enact which would improve safety are: better lighting around the city, public realm spaces as well as lanes that are well lit. Our residential streets and parks should also have public lighting to ensure safety for pedestrians. 

A lived in city is a safer city, we need to ensure that above shop living is something that happens in our city, the adaptive reuse commercial projects are part of this but looking at how to encourage landlords to use their above shop properties is essential. 

A proper night time economy that doesn’t just revolve around pubs. I was one of the Chairs on the National Night Time Economy Task Force and what I envision for the city is one with culture, art, clubs and music at night and have the movement of people through various hours from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn which would ensure more of a feeling of safety. This also includes having proper public realm spaces which is where the new Dublin Transport plan would generate. People may claim that we already have public spaces and that they are being used for drug consumption, but our addiction issues will not be eradicated by less public realm spaces, it needs safe injection centres which is something my colleagues and I have advocated for.

Nationally and regionally we need to continue to build and expand our public transport network and make journeys more reasonable and more sustainable. The Greens nationally have made public transport a priority and funded major projects everywhere, while cutting fares by 20% for adults and 60% for young people. Public transport use grew by 25% last year alone. In addition significant investment has been put into the purchase of electric buses and also expansion of the Dart network.

For Dublin the aim should be that public transport, walking and cycling should be the primary mode of transport. This does not mean that we are banning cars but it means reducing the amount of cars that use Dublin as a through road. This in turn will allow public transport for the city to flow quicker.

Building proper cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and repairing footpaths! And always putting pedestrians first in the hierarchy.

The essential part of cycling infrastructure are segregated bike lanes which will increase cyclist safety and lower the number of accidents on the road. Especially important near schools. This needs to be coupled with footpaths of proper widths and free from obstructions.

We need to ensure that enforcement prevents cars from parking on footpaths in residential zones. And that where possible community’s seeking filtered permeability in their areas are supported. 

We also need zebra crossings at minor junctions, to provide for pedestrian priority, alongside safer crossing points – we’ve worked to secure a reduction in the cost of installing such crossings so that they can be used much more.

Lastly as I Councillor I will be advocating for extra resource towards traffic and transport in the city council since they cover such a large brief, especially extra resourcing towards safety around school zones. We have many schools still waiting on the school zone list but not enough resource to roll out the essential scheme.  

To say the rise of racism, anti-immigration, anti LGBTQ+ and the far right has been disheartening is an understatement. For years advocates, activists and many others, including myself have warned of the issue and we paid it no heed. Decades of underinvestment in housing and services have allowed the rhetoric and lies of the far right to take hold as deprived and underinvested communities look for someone to blame. 

As someone who has spent the past five years working with organisations, groups and individuals on issues of integration, diversity and equality and having had first-hand experience of the issues, and seen up front the rise of ethno-nationalism I have made it my priority to make sure we counter the on-going division and hate. We can do so in a number of ways: 

• On the response front we need the Garda Commissioner to see ethno-nationalist groups that cause violence and harm as a real threat to society. There needs to be cross agency collaboration and a proactive strategy from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Department of Justice to tackle the rise of these far right groups. Look at everything from intelligence monitoring to on ground community policing.
• We need proper sanctions from Coimisiún na Meán in terms of social media platforms breaching the Digital Services Act, the current fine is a drop in the ocean for many of these companies. 
• On the prevention front we need clear national communication campaign to debunk the ongoing lies and rhetoric pushed by the far right and as part of said communication highlight the positives of immigration and those seeking asylum. Again cross agency collaboration is key. We’ve had successful climate communication projects from the Department of Culture and Department of Environment, the same needs to apply when it comes to immigration. For too long bad actors push lies and division and the public also focus on the pull factor of why immigrants come to Ireland. We need to start talking about the push factors of why people are choosing to depart their homes, global warming, drought, lack of food security. 
• We also need ongoing investment in services, health, housing and community services to ensure the lies do not gain traction in underinvested areas. We need investment in Community Development especially infrastructure of community and sporting facilities to proactively engage local community and new residents.

The above are things we can do from a national level and with exception of community development and sporting, may not be within the control of Councillors to execute. But it is within the powers of Councillors to advocate and provide the facts for the public, not a narrative that would win them voters but one which guides us to make a fairer and better society. 

Within the local authority I have pushed for integration officers, drafting and implementation of an integration strategy which is long promised and overdue. I will continue to push for a proper integration and inclusion strategy and supports, we can and should do this via every section of the council especially through community development and also through sports. 

I have supported and founded “For All” welcome groups and have worked on ground to ensure the integration and inclusion of those seeking refuge and asylum. These groups have been supported by the North and South City Partnerships and the local authority community managers, we need to ensure these connections hold and are supported. I have worked cross party to ensure that hate and division does not take hold in communities when people are persistent in sowing hate and division, cross party collaboration is essential to ensure that we present a united front. 

We also need to ensure marginalised and minority groups have voices on our local council and as Councillors we need to ensure that our groupings promote the candidacy of marginalised and minority candidates. I have for many years worked and supported  many organisations such as Irish Travellers Movement of Ireland, Immigrant Council of Ireland, BelongTo, Teni, Women For Election, Migrant Rights Alliance, Pavee Point among many others, to ensure we increase our representation from minority and marginalised communities in every local councils so that we reflect the make up of society better.

Ireland is your home as well as mine, it is the home of those who are born here and those who seek refuge here, it is the home for the marginalised and the diverse. Ireland is a land of welcomes despite those trying to make it not so. Ireland is not full, Ireland is for all. And on June the 7th I hope everyone casts a vote to ensure we have a fair and inclusive Ireland.