Gary Gannon: Gardiner Street exposes Dublin housing failure

Tánaiste, I noticed you've been spending a bit of time in Dublin City over the last few weeks and I have to ask, do you feel any shame for what Fine Gael's time in government has done to our capital city? Tánaiste, I know that's a difficult charge but I want to illustrate the point. So let me talk to you about just one street in central Dublin. That street is Gardiner Street. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Gardiner Street, Tánaiste, but it is just one street over from the GPO where a mere 18 months ago you stood and made a pre-election commitment to the people of Dublin. Do you remember that commitment? Well we're launching the long-awaited report of the Dublin City Centre Taskforce to set up our capital city. It deserves a brighter future, it deserves dedicated resources and it deserves a vision and we have it now. That was the promise and one street over from where you made it, Gardiner Street, embodies the failure. Tánaiste, one tenth of the homeless population of Ireland are being warehoused in emergency accommodation on Gardiner Street. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive have contracted 20 properties on this one street, all but one of which are privately operated. That's 1,700 emergency accommodation beds and barely half a kilometre stretch of road. And yes, Tánaiste, I too wince at the use of the term warehoused, but I know personally the lived experiences of families trapped in this reality and to call it anything else would be an insult to their experience. Eoin Morphy is the principal of Gardiner Street Primary School, where 20% of the children are living in emergency homeless accommodation. He recently told RTE's Primetime, students' basic needs aren't being met a lot of the time because they might be up late at night, they might not have good washing facilities or cooking facilities, nowhere to play or do their homework. He went on, if your basic needs aren't met, it's very hard to learn. What's happening on Gardiner Street is a blight on this Republic, Tánaiste, but there is another fact I want you to hold in your head if you visit central Dublin over the next few weeks. Using all available data sources, the North City Centre Residence Alliance have concluded that there are 7,000 people living in homeless accommodation in the north inner city. Tánaiste, I don't have time to talk about the level of complex needs that are being unmet in this cohort, but it is devastating to the lives of those trapped in this broken system and to the communities trying to pick up the pieces of government failure. But there is an even crueler juxtaposition operating in tandem. The average monthly rent in Dublin City is €2,700 a month. Rents are 80% higher than they were a decade ago. Do you know how many affordable purchase homes were delivered across the entirety of Dublin City Council boundaries last year? Zero. Not a single one. Tánaiste, 18 months ago you stood at the GPO and talked of a vision for Dublin City. It's hard not to see the culmination of that vision as a city that is too expensive for the vast majority of Dubliners to ever live in and the creation of a system of impoverty that is inescapable for those caught in the failed policies of your government. Tánaiste, I'll ask again. Is this the vision of Dublin City that you have in mind? What's the plan to remove us from this and improve the capital city for the people who live here and the people who are caught in the oppressions that are created by failed government policies? Thank you Deputy Gannon. Tánaiste please. Thank you very much to Deputy Gannon. I remember very well standing there at the GPO for what I think was a very important moment for Dublin with the launch of the Dublin City Taskforce report. I say that because it's a report that has nothing to do with me. I decided that we should have a taskforce for Dublin. The report is the culmination of an incredible body of work done by many people, including many people in this house, including many people across the political divide, including all of the agencies, including the City Council and its very excellent Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare, including many bodies, be it the HSE, be it Angardishe O'Connor, be it business groups who fed into the vision. I know you know that too, but I do just want to say that that was the outworking of that and since then we've actually seen real progress in terms of the implementation of it. So I believe Dublin City Council has recently, this week I think, is progressing the establishment of the SPV. You'll be aware of the appointment government has made in terms of somebody to head that up and drive that in the person of Robert Watt. You'll be aware of the fact that we have allocated, Dublin City Council has allocated staff with the technical skills to a programme management unit to drive delivery, that they're now working on an integrated area strategy. You'll be aware of the changes we made to the Living City Initiative to make sure more homes in Dublin, including in your own constituency, can qualify for reliefs or more buildings to bring them back into use, either as homes, including above the shop, removing any restriction in relation to that. You'll be aware of the very significant money we've provided through the various renewal funds around Parnell Square culture quarter, the fruit and vegetable market, the plans in relation to the GPO as well, and now we have that SPV to drive delivery too. So I am proud, quite frankly, of the vision of the Dublin City Centre Taskforce. I think people far away from Dublin can take an interest in this too because we all want to see a capital city that is vibrant and thriving, but that doesn't take away from the point that you've made, because the point you've made is also very valid. Homelessness in our capital city, homelessness in our country, but homelessness in our capital city is still far, far too high, and in certain parts of our country there is a particular, I don't like the word concentration either, but a particularly high number of people as well, and we know that while homelessness is a national problem, we know that it's a problem that disproportionately impacts Dublin, and that's why we are providing more funding for the Dublin homeless region. We provided funding of around 400 million euro in 2026. It's why we provided local authorities with statutory discretion around HAP payments above the prescribed maximum rent limit. It's why we've recently met as a government with Dublin City Council and their Director of Housing and their Chief Executive, myself, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Housing, the Minister of State for Housing, to see what more can be done in relation to faster delivery of social housing, and I accept that it's an area in which we have a huge amount more work to do, but I think both pieces of work are important. Driving the implementation of the Dublin City Centre Taskforce is key, while also obviously tackling the homeless emergency. Thank you, Deputy Gannon. You've mentioned the real progress that's been made in the Dublin City Taskforce, and I think if we capture a little bit about the timeline, I'll show you the fallacy of that statement. You first announced the establishment of the City Centre Taskforce in May of 2023. That was then commissioned, I think, about May of later that year. Nothing happened in between the delivery report between David McRedmond, which came 18 months ago. It sat on your desk for four months before that, and in the 18 months since, you've talked about an SPV that is undefined, unbudgeted, and the announcement of a civil service representative. Dublin City Council have been asking for £114 million, just so they can give body and finance to some of the initiatives that you've talked about. The Living City Initiative, for example, Taoiseach, last I checked, there was about 30 applications on the Living City Initiative over the course of many years. I'd be surprised if that's over 40 now. Taoiseach, we need a vision for the city that is, as you exactly said, resourced, understanding the oppressions of the people who are being left behind in their city, understanding that people can't actually afford to live in their city. We don't need more response in years. We actually need action now. Thank you. Deputy, time is up. Taoiseach. So it was May 2024, I became Taoiseach in April 2024. It was May 2024 that we announced the plan to put this in place. And now in 2026, we're already seeing delivery in relation to that. The Living City Initiative you're right on, actually. There was a rigidity around the Living City Initiative that was making it, quite frankly, too hard for people to benefit from. And that's why we made a number of changes to it. And I really hope genuinely we see the benefits of that, most particularly in the changes above the shop. There has been some funding, though, through the urban regeneration already. And I welcome, I think, the support of your party, most parties in this house, in terms of other ways we can look at Dublin City Council having potentially ring-fenced funding, whether that's a tourism levy or the likes. I'm very eager to explore that. On the understanding that the funding goes directly in to issues in Dublin City as well. We've seen other areas. As the Minister for Justice here, I think we've seen a real focus on progress in relation to garden numbers in the city. And that's been widely acknowledged by people. And I hear that when I visit your constituency as well. And there will be a memo due to go to government in around the next two weeks, specifically on next steps for the GPO.