Government backs plan to transform north inner city

FUNDING of €5 million is being ring-fenced to support the implementation of a plan aimed at transforming the north inner city.

The Mulvey Report launched earlier this month includes action plans for four priority areas and is designed to help end the cycle of drugs and crime that have blighted the north inner city for generations.

The report, overseen by former head of the Workplace Relations Committee Kieran Mulvey, outlines specific goals he says are critical if the regeneration programme is going to be successful.

Recommendations in the report include the re-opening of Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station, 30 additional Gardaí for the area by the end of the year and a number of measures aimed at creating local employment.

Mulvey thanked locals for their input into the report, which he described as “informative, instructive and at times, given the issues under discussion, emotive, harrowing and difficult”.

“I have met many people who are just trying to get on with their day to day lives, as parents, senior citizens, students, workers and whose priority is to have a safe community in which to live and decent opportunities to improve their lives, the lives of their children and to have a better standard of living,” he said.

“These are the basic rights and normal expectations of citizens and residents in this Republic.”

The Government has accepted the report’s recommendations and has promised to move quickly to put in place implementation structures.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and Dublin Central TD, Paschal Donohoe, said the ring-fenced funding will ensure the programme will be driven from “day one”.

“It also ensures existing funding is used in ways which is smarter and has greater impact,” he added.

“I also expect the local business community and employers will play their role in matching this effort to deliver real change for the individuals and families whose community they operate within.”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said community participation was vital in planning, implementation and evaluation to ensure to the success of the programme.

“Without real and direct engagement with the people within the community, we cannot make change,” he warned.

An Taoiseach also confirmed Government support for the development of a community hub on the old Rutland Street School site.

Local councillor Nial Ring (Ind) said the report had been broadly well received and the commitment to the refurbishment of Rutland Street School was particularly welcomed.

“The report correctly identified the challenges and strategies to fulfil the vision for the future of the North inner City,” he added.

“But it was very much a macro level approach, and I feel it would have benefited from an inclusion of specific targets and goals under each heading – targets which could be measurable, realistic and achievable.”

Social Democrats councillor, Gary Gannon, described the report as disappointing and said it “should have gone much further.”

He said the area needed “genuine ongoing commitment” to tackle issues and “not patronising ‘visits’ to the area, 20 minutes from the Taoiseach’s office.”

“We are not a zoo,” he said. “People living in the north Inner City are very proud to live there and proud of their community.

“The challenge now will be to ensure that recommendations are actually delivered for local communities. But the level of investment promised is nowhere near adequate to address the lack of jobs, lack of training, lack of public investment and lack of opportunities that the community faces.”

“There is precious little in the recommendations to tackle the housing crisis in the area.”