More than 20% of all public housing being built at present is in the North Inner City, with:

• 14 homes being built in Arbour Hill
• 13 nearly completed in Belvedere Court
• 52 being advanced along North Great Charles Street
• 30 on North King Street
• 283 as part of the O’Devaney Gardens redevelopment
• 5 on Prussia Street
• 47 awaiting final snagging on Railway Street

Separately, Dublin City Council will be acquiring through the provision of Part V:

• 70 homes on Castleforbes, Dublin 1
• 55 homes along East Road
• 15 in Northbank
• 4 in Shamrock Place
• 3 along Clonliffe Road.

Almost 340 new homes within the North Inner City are currently at various stages of procurement, including the selector of contractor, etc, with;

• 163 homes as part of the Dorset Street redevelopment
• Up to 100 homes as part of the Infirmary Road scheme
• 68 on the former Readymix site along East Wall Road
• 8 on Sean McDermott Street

In terms of the Housing Regeneration Projects, five separate schemes are at various stages of the planning and procurement processes. A total of 124 homes will be built as part of the redevelopment of the Constitution Hill complex, up to 90 homes along Dominick Street West as part of the proposed deep retrofit project. Up to 130 homes are proposed on Dunne Street and 92 homes have been subject of planning permission as part of the redevelopment of Matt Talbot Court. Potentially 50 homes could be developed on the former Portland Row Depot site.

Separately, within the North Inner City, I have been working with City Council officials and local residents with regards to delivering new and better housing in:

• Croke Villas and Sackville Avenue where 75 apartments and houses are being advanced.
• Approximately 40 homes for senior citizens on the former Orchard Road Depot, just off Clonliffe Road.
• 35 homes have been ear-marked for delivery on a current vacant site at the corner of Russell Street and the North Circular Road.
• Up to 175 homes are proposed on the existing Dublin Fire Brigade Maintenance Depot on Stanley Street in Stoneybatter.

Dublin City Council is also making use of the Buy and Renew Scheme introduced by Fine Gael in Government. This is properties have been acquired under the Compulsory Purchase process. Properties in Montpelier, East Wall, Clonliffe Road and Summerhill have all been acquired recently and works are being advanced now to refurbish them for use and allocation by the Housing Department.

Coupled with the various progress outlined above, individuals and families have moved into new homes within the North Inner City in recent years, including Dominick Street, Sean Foster Place, Poole House on Poplar Row, St. Mary’s Mansions on Sean McDermott Street, Spencer Place on New Wapping Street and as part of the first phase of the redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens in Montpelier Avenue and Montpelier Close. What the above shows is that we are making progress on the delivery of public and affordable housing, which cannot be questioned. The focus for the next Council term is to step up the delivery of the projects at design and planning stages so that over the next five years, we ensure Dubliners living within the North Inner City have the opportunity to live, raise their families in accommodation suitable to the needs and which is safe and secure.

Dublin City Council has surveyed every single housing complex it manages. Those surveys are detailed and I believe the onus is on Councillors to finalise, early in the new Council term, a programme of upgrades that can be undertaken through a Precinct Improvement Scheme. Such works, I envisage being included relate to insulation, plumbing, wiring, upgrade of windows, doors, etc. I look to the work I have arranged for tenants in O’Brien Hall on Gardiner Street to replace windows and balcony doors, to help reduce heat loss. Too many flat complexes in the North Inner City have water supply issues, whereby internal pumps are not fit for purpose in order to ensure that householders on top floors and balconies actually have water coming into their homes. While there are large scale works required in many complexes, there are even more where small improvements could greatly enhance the quality of life for our tenants.

2023 saw 475 tonnes of illegally dumped rubbish on the streets of Dublin Central. This is totally unacceptable. I chaired a DCC Working Group that recommended to Government the need for new powers on the use of CCTV for the prevention, detection and prosecution of Waste Offences. Those laws are now in place. Using CCTV to identify those doing the dumping and to support the prosecution of dumpers continues to be the single most effective tool to combat illegal dumping. As a result of my efforts, I am pleased that DCC is now procuring a CCTV system that will be in place shortly. The existing Litter Management Plan and Street Cleaning schedule for not fit for purpose and we need to radically update our cleaning methods and how we better prioritise street cleaning, power-washing and weeding. Delivering quality roads and ensuring that footpaths are not falling apart is also a significant factor in helping tackle the appearance and cleanliness of the city. One last issue here is the protection and ultimate enhancement of our recycling services and Bring Centres. Since 2019, I have worked tirelessly to prevent the closure of the Shamrock Terrace Recycling Centre on the North Strand and had to submit a Section 140 motion to stop the Grangegorman Bring Centre being downgraded or possibly closed. At a time when we need to be encouraging more Dubliners to recycle and reuse, we cannot allow essential services like these to be lost. I would also argue that enhance our recycling centres by the establishment of Repair Centres in Grangegorman and Shamrock Terrace, for example, so that residents and householders can have common items repaired instead of having them replaced, or worse still being dumped. We need to think outside the box a little more when it comes how we make Dubliner cleaner, greener and more vibrant.

What I am doing as Chair of the City Council’s Planning & Urban Form Strategic Policy Committee is working with officials to establish how the Derelict Sites and Vacant Sites legislation can be enhanced, given successful Dublin City Council has been at utilising it powers. I argued within my party and with colleagues in Government for greater use of CPO powers for sites and buildings considered derelict. In my time chairing the Planning & Urban Form Strategic Policy Committee, the Council’s use of its compulsory purchase order powers has increased, and a clear example is how Dublin City Council has a acquired as row of eight derelict houses on Tyrrell’s Place, just off Charles Street that are being redeveloped under the Buy and Renew Scheme for allocation in the coming weeks. I have used my role to identify sites within the North Inner City currently derelict and are both a plight and a scourge on our communities for possible acquisition.

Community Gardai on the beat, either on foot or on bikes criss-crossing their districts. I have worked with the Minister for Justice, Taoiseach Harris and colleagues in Government to demand and secure additional Garda resources in Fitzgibbon Street, the Bridewell and Store Street. Since December 2023, 216 new Garda officers have been assigned to Dublin stations. I have worked with local senior Garda management to impress upon them the importance of maximising the increased resources allocated to them. Improved community policing does three things:

• Act as a deterrent for all anti-social and criminal behaviour,
• Improve local Garda visibility,
• Ensure those who attempt and engage in anti-social behaviour and criminal behaviour are identified and apprehended swiftly.

Deliver the key infrastructure projects the city needs. Metro. BusConnects. The Various Dart + schemes and ensure that key objectives in the Dublin City Development Plan regarding the provision of new stations in the North Inner City and across the wider city are delivered over the next five years. We also need to ensure, as a City Council, the time lag between planning approvals for projects and construction is greatly reduced. Furthermore, we need experienced Councillors who understand what they are voting on and that their proposals have consequences. Just look at the North Strand, where bus stops were removed along the North Strand Road as a result of planning amendments put forward and supported by the Social Democrats, Labour, the Greens and Sinn Fein.

Delivering dedicated local roads and footpath improvements to enhance road surfaces and rebuild damaged footpaths. Over the last five years, I have helped to secure approximately €11m to deliver better roads and safer footpaths in every neighbourhood with 29 streets in the North Inner City upgraded in the last five years. More than €3.12m will be spent this year to resurface roads around the Five Lamps, the Markets area, in Stoneybatter, Ballybough and the North Strand. Almost €1m will be spent this summer upgrading footpaths in the Clonliffe Road area, East Wall and on Rathdown Road. Improving road surfaces will aid road safety and comfort for cyclists in addition to the protected cycle lanes being delivered at present.

I have served as the representative of the communities of the North Inner City for the last fifteen years and in that time, I have abided by three simple objectives. To listen. To engage and to communicate. To do this job effectively, requires each of these three objectives. I listen by constantly knocking on doors and hearing what people have to say to me on issues that matter to them. I engage with resident groups, community associations, sectoral interests and pressure groups and directly with those who have very different views to me. Then, I communicate, either through my regular local newsletters, ezine updates or in face-to-face meetings. These three objectives which I abide by have helped me in challenging the increasingly vocal extremist views we hear. I also am not afraid to tackle the deliberate misinformation by some on various social media channels. Others may have a different approach but for me, tackling extremist views, hateful commentary and responding to these issues, involves listening, engaging and communicating, just I have done over the last five years working on behalf of the communities of the North Inner City.