Locals seek greater say in inner Dublin City plan

The Government needs to change structures to implement a report aimed at tackling disadvantage in Dublin’s north-east inner city, an umbrella community organisation has said.

The North Inner City Community Coalition warned the Government that it will not get its “full endorsement” if the community was not involved in the actual decision-making.

On Thursday last, Taoiseach Enda Kenny published the Mulvey Report, which sets out the problems facing the area and actions to deal with them.

The report was commissioned in the wake of intense bloodshed in a 1km radius of the north-east inner city, in which four people, including a completely innocent bystander, were shot dead by gunmen associated with the Kinahan cartel.

Launching the report, conducted by Kieran Mulvey, the Taoiseach said there would be “no more false dawns” for the local community and that community participation was vital in the implementation.

The inner city coalition, which took part in the consultation for the report, had backed the initiative but has issued serious concerns after digesting the report and the Government’s response.

“What’s required to bring about real change is a powerful group that can make decisions and has clout and one that has strong community involvement,” said convenor Fergus McCabe.

He said the senior implementation body — the Department of Taoiseach senior officials oversight group — did not have any community representatives on it.

“You need a strong structure with strong advocates for the community on it. There’s no point having local people involved if the real decisions are made above them or they are consulted after the event,” he said.

Mr McCabe, a community activist for more than 30 years, has seen many well-meaning reports “gather dust” because of a lack of implementation and community power.

“We don’t want this to be another of those initiatives. We need a structure with the vision, the ideas and the clout — and that isn’t there in the current structures.

“We feel we have backed this process, but the government won’t get the full endorsement of the coalition with this. The Government needs to listen to our concerns,” he said.

There are numerous layers to the structures in the report. At the top, there is a ministerial taskforce and the senior officials group.

Under this, there is an independent chair with an executive role, who heads a programme implementation board.

This 10-person board comprises representatives of government departments and agencies and one from the community.

Below it, there is a local programme working group and a community consultative forum.

The Mulvey Report sets out four priority areas for action: Tackling crime and drugs; maximising educational/training and employment opportunities; creating an integrated social services system and improving the physical landscape.

The community coalition said there was insufficient emphasis on economic issues and employment, and on mental health.

It also wanted a 10-year strategy, broken down to shorter strategies.