Taoiseach’s inner city task force ignores housing

The “Taoiseach’s Taskforce” response to inner city violence and drug feuding has attracted criticism for failing to deal with the crisis of housing in the area.

Speaking following a briefing by Taskforce chairperson Kieran Mulvey on the Taskforce’s report to residents yesterday (Wednesday February 1st), Cllr. Éilis Ryan (Workers’ Party, North Inner City) said: “Without a radical increase in public housing in the northeast inner city, none of the other recommendations contained in the report will make a difference, or be taken seriously.”

Cllr. Ryan was particularly critical of Mulvey’s insistence that public housing could not be prioritised since it would risk creating “ghettoes,” saying: “The astronomical prices of homes for sale in Dublin 1 show that private-public development has failed. There are no controls on who buys private housing, or what rent the landlords who inevitably buy them up can charge.”

“At the moment on Daft.ie, there are more two-bedroom+ homes for sale for over a million euro, than for less than €200,000. Private housing developments in the northeast inner city are a paradise for developers and millionaires – nobody else.”

The councillor called for a full assessment of the current and future need for public housing in the area, and the identification and purchase of as much land as necessary to provide that housing, saying:

“Mr. Mulvey has an opportunity between now and next week to take on board the clear feedback from residents of the area – that large-scale investment in building public housing is a non-negotiable component of any serious plan for the area. “Anything else will inevitably lead to a displacement of low- and middle-income working class communities from the heart of the city.”