Minister avoids ‘junkies’ paradise’ on housing project visit

PATRICIA WELDON didn’t mind all the people trooping through her tidy living room and kitchen.

Her small dog appeared slightly perturbed by Minister for Housing Noel Ahern and his entourage disturbing the routine at the new house in Bridgefoot Street in Dublin’s south inner city. Mr Ahern was visiting the new houses on Robert Emmet Close as they are the first phase of the urban regeneration project.

What he didn’t go to see during his visit was the wasteground locals describe as a junkies’ paradise or the builder’s dump alongside the derelict blocks of flats just at the back of the new houses.