How would you help get more housing built in the city – especially social and affordable housing?
The major blocks to social and affordable housing are land and property hoarding by vulture funds and the lack of a state building company. I will make it a priority to challenge these vested interests promoted by Fine Gael & Fianna Fail because adequate housing is a human right, not a luxury.
How would you help improve conditions in existing housing, both social and privately rented?
I will work for a mass retrofitting campaign across all social housing for the well-being of ordinary people, to cut costs and to benefit the environment for the long term.
A vote for me is vote to directly employ vastly more maintenance crews on DCC & Cabra-Glasnevin council. Privatising and outsourcing the main jobs of the council has left waiting times now stretching into years for urgent repairs.
What would you do to help make the city feel less dirty, tackling the rubbish and dog poo all over the streets?
The council should take control of waste management. This would prevent illegal dumping in the area and incentivise the public to sustainably manage their waste.
I will support a major campaign by DCC in relation to responsible dog ownership and littering.
What would you do to help tackle vacancy and dereliction?
I will be calling for a comprehensive audit to be carried out on vacant and derelict properties as a matter of urgency. Homeless people can't wait. We already report any derelict properties as part of our campaigns.
A punitive tax should be applied to vacant and derelict property if not used within a specified period, to encourage owners of the property to put it back into use.
Too many homes are lying idle during a housing crisis when a family could be living in it.
DCC should be given strict deadlines on the time it takes them to turn their own vacant properties around. Finally, we will seek to compulsory purchase house on the vacant properties register.
What needs to be done to make the city feel safer?
Crime doesn't happen in a vacuum and needs to be fought with a socialist response. My strategy for anti-social behaviour is to tackle the root causes such as poverty, addiction and the housing crisis. This means reclaiming our resources from greedy vulture funds and making social housing a priority.
We also need to give people an outlet whether it be in social, leisure or sports facilities. Young people a need a pro-social outlet for their spare time and reduce the risk of them causing harm.
I will fight to implement strategies that actually work for addiction issues. Instead of criminalising addiction, we need community solution such as outreach, mental health support and resource centres.
In practical terms, lighting is a major issue. People want to feel safe where they walk around and I campaign to add more lighting.
What needs to be done to improve public transport in the city?
Free and frequent public transport needs to be introduced to encourage people out of their cars and free up the streets from traffic.
The Green Party commissioned a survey which said people wouldn’t take up public transport if it was free but never looked at increasing capacity. Of course you won’t see uptick if the buses are already full, running late or not in the areas they need to be.
Busconnects are an issue in some areas, so this will be part of the strategy.
What should be done to make it nicer and safer for people to get around the city on foot and by bike?
Cycle lanes need to be introduced in conjunction with free public transport so that traffic is reduced significantly, and road space is made available. This needs to be done in a way that is beneficial to taxi drivers and transport operators to make the transition as smooth as possible.
A reduction in car dependency will also reduce emissions and the harm that emissions cause to people.
What would you do to help counter the rise of the far right, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ hate, and anti-asylum-seeker arsons?
I already work with local community groups in an effort to increase diversity and ensure that people from every background feels welcome. This means doing community outreach, education campaigns and countering attacks on the ground. If elected, I will continue to fight all forms of bigotry systemically.
Much of the current rhetoric is coming from the top down in racist policies, inadequate housing and services which then fuels hatred, misinformation and division. There is a lot of false information regarding immigrants, and I will continue to work within and build 'For All' groups to help counter false information.
Special attention must be made to ensure no level of hate or discrimination is acceptable against members of the LGBTQ+ community. This means working with members of the community to best inform policy and education to fight this discrimination in all its forms.